The International Courtly Literature Society, North American Branch invites submissions for three sessions:
1) Impropriety and Notoriety in Courtly Society Paper Length: Roundtable, 7-10 minutes
E-mail Addresses for Proposals: [email protected], [email protected]
Description: Outrage! Scandal! Works of courtly literature are filled with instances of characters whose improper conduct brings infamy or fame. Nor are literary characters alone in being scandalised or titillated: such emotions have been felt by readers as well, leading to works being censored, indexed, banned, destroyed—and secretly preserved and shared withal. Impropriety and notoriety have been and remain compelling forces both in establishing and in challenging cultural attitudes. In courtly literature, whether the text enforces a cultural view, or whether it offers an alternative that can coexist with or which seeks to undermine established social norms reflects upon the beliefs that shape the courtly world, suggesting questions about the values of literary characters and readers, then and now. Proposals should address the topic of impropriety and resulting notoriety in courtly literature. For the purpose of this panel, ‘impropriety’ is broadly interpreted to mean conduct contrary to established social, cultural, political, or religious mores.
2) Love on the Battlefield Paper Length: 20 minutes
E-mail Address for Proposals: [email protected]
Description: This proposed session plays on the strengths of the International Courtly Literature Society: interdisciplinarity, paired with the openness for a variety of methodological approaches. Although the title is intentionally kept general to embrace as wide a variety of potential submissions as possible, we expect the papers to gravitate towards issues of alterity and permeability, e.g. race, gender, dis/ability, monstrosity etc. When love and combat clash, opposites attract - such as in the case of the amazons who beat their male foes to later procreate with them, pagan opponents who are vanquished and also converted, or virgin valkyries such as the Nibelungenlied's Brunhild, who loses her strength alongside her virginity to the man who beats her in combat.
3) Ovid and His Heirs at Court (co-sponsored with the Societas Ovidiana) Paper Length: 20 minutes
E-mail Addresses for Proposals: [email protected], [email protected]
Description: This proposed session, which will be co-sponsored by the International Courtly Literature and the Societas Ovidiana, will examine the way the Ovidian amatory discourse of the Amores, Ars Amatoria, Heroides, and Metamorphoses, as well as poems by imitators of Ovid, influence courtly literature. Besides the influence of Ovid on courtly poetry, session papers could also consider the way that moralizing Ovid commentaries and poems, such as Pierre Bersuire’s Ovidius moralizatus and the anonymous Ovide moralisé relate to courtly literature. This proposed session builds on the dialogue begun in the “What is Courtly Love?” session sponsored by the ICLS-NAB at the 2018 Medieval Congress, which, among other themes, discussed Ovid’s influence on the ideas of Andreas Capellanus and other medieval writers on love. Proposals should be of approximately 100-250 words in length and accompanied by a completed Participant Information Form. Those who are not currently members of the International Courtly Literature Society are welcome to submit to sessions sponsored by the ICLS, but are expected to become members upon acceptance. Proposals that are not accepted for the session will be forwarded to the Congress Committee, which will consider them for inclusion in one of the General Sessions.
Participant Information Form: http://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions
Deadline for Submissions: 15 September 2019
Any submission by an underfunded scholar or graduate student is eligible for the ICLS-NAB Emerging Scholar Grant, which covers the early registration fee plus $200 for domestic travel/$500 for overseas travel. Please note in your cover letter if you want to be considered for this grant.
