A symposium to be held at the University of Wollongong,
September 25-26, 2012
Sponsored by the ARC Centre for Excellence for the History of
Emotions
Convened by Louise D'Arcens, University of Wollongong
Medievalism - the creative
interpretation or recreation of the European Middle Ages - has had
a major presence in the cultural memory of the modern West. The
medieval period has long provided a reservoir of images and ideas
that have been crucial to defining what it is to be 'modern'. For
today's audiences viewing medievalism via the body of heroic and
fantastic texts emerging out of the nineteenth-century tradition,
it would seem that it is a very serious business. Yet from the
earliest parodies of medieval chivalry through to the irreverent
depictions of the Middle Ages in contemporary popular culture, it
is clear that as long as there has been medievalism, people have
been encouraged to laugh at, and with, the Middle Ages. Comic
affective engagement with the Middle Ages has had a vital
role in the postmedieval imaginary of the Middle Ages, and thus
warrants serious attention. Despite this, to date it has not
received any sustained analysis.
This intensive symposium will map out a fertile new territory that
expands current understandings of the modern world's emotional
relationship with the medieval past, and bring a fresh new
perspective to the significant question of what revisiting the
Middle Ages reveals to later societies about their own aspirations,
anxieties, and self-understanding. Illuminating the neglected
affective tradition of humorous medievalism gives us a new way into
comprehending what the present wants from the distant past, and
why.
Speakers:
Professor Stephen Knight (Cardiff University / University of
Melbourne)
Dr David Matthews (University of Manchester)
Professor Andrew Lynch (University of Western Australia)
Dr Kim Wilkins (University of Queensland)
Professor John Simons (Macquarie University)
Associate Professor Louise D'Arcens (University of
Wollongong)
This is designed as an intensive seminar, but a small number of
attendee places are also available.
Please contact Louise D'Arcens (louised@uow.edu.au) if you are
interested in attending.
