The Medieval Academy Blog

Winckelmann’s Victims.
The Classics: Norms, Exclusions and Prejudices.

Call for Papers

Ghent University (Belgium), 20-22 September 2018

CONFIRMED KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Michelle Warren (University of Dartmouth) – Mark Vessey (University of British Columbia) – Irene Zwiep (University of Amsterdam)

“Der einzige Weg für uns, groß, ja, wenn
 es möglich ist, unnachahmlich zu werden, is
die Nachahmung der Alten.”
Johannes Winckelmann

Classics played a major and fundamental role in the cultural history of Western Europe. Few would call this into question. Since the Carolingian period, notably ‘classical’ literature has served as a constant source and model of creativity and inspiration, by which the literary identity of Europe has been negotiated and (re-)defined. The tendency to return to the classics and resuscitate them remains sensible until today, as classical themes and stories are central to multiple contemporary literary works, both in ‘popular’ and ‘high’ culture. Think for instance of Rick Riordan’s fantastic tales about Percy Jackson or Colm Tóibín’s refined novels retelling the Oresteia.

At the same time, this orientation and fascination towards the classics throughout literary history has often —implicitly or explicitly— gone hand in hand with the cultivation of a certain normativity, regarding aesthetics, content, decency, theory, … Classical works, and the ideals that were projected on them, have frequently been considered as the standard against which the quality of a literary work should be measured. Whether a text was evaluated as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depended on the extent to which it could meet the ‘classical’ requirements. Probably the most famous example of someone advocating such a classical norm was the German art critic Johannes Winckelmann (1717-1768), whose death will be commemorated in 2018. His Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums may be considered as the embodiment of the idea that the classics should be the norm for aesthetic or even any evaluation, such as, in Western Europe, it has recurrently cropped up, to a greater or lesser degree, from the Early Middle Ages until modern times.

Almost inevitably, this normativity has implied, shaped and fed prejudices and thoughts of exclusion towards literary features and aesthetic characteristics that seemed to deviate from classical ideals. Throughout literary history, examples occur of literary works, styles and genres that were generally appreciated within their time or context of origin, yet whose quality was retrospectively called into question because they were said not to be in accordance with the classical norm as it prevailed at the moment of judgement. Sometimes, this has even applied to whole periods. The persistence of similar assessments up until today is telling for the impact classical normativity still exercises. Besides, literary texts, though clearly not created to conform to the ‘classical’ standard, have been ‘classicized’ during judgement, being forced by a critic to fit into a classical framework and celebrated for its so-called imitation of antiquity. Even the Classics themselves often had and have to obey to this process of ‘classicization’. Therefore, with a sense for drama, one could say that all these works, literary forms, periods, etc. have seriously ‘suffered’ from the prejudices born from classics-based normativity, being the ‘victims’ of Winckelmann-like ideas concerning ‘classical’ standards.

This conference aims to consider classical normativity with its including prejudices and exclusions as a case-study for cultural self-fashioning by way of European literature. It seeks to explore how the normative status ascribed to the classics and the ensuing prejudices have, from the Early Middle Ages to modern times, influenced and shaped thoughts and views of the literary identity of Western Europe. Therefore, we propose the following questions:

• What are the processes behind this normativity of the Classics? Is it possible to discern a conceptual continuum behind the time and again revival of the Classics as the norm for ‘good’ literature? Or, rather, are there clear conceptual and concrete divergences between succeeding periods of such ‘classical’ normativity?
• What are the links (conceptual, historical, aesthetic, political, …) between the normativity of the Classics and the excluded ones, both in synchronic and diachronic terms? How does literary normativity of the Classics imply literary prejudices and exclusions?
• How has normativity of the Classics with its prejudices and exclusions imposed an identity on European literature (and literary culture)?
• What does this normativity of the Classics with its prejudices and exclusions mean for the conceptualization of European literary history?

Besides these conceptual questions, we also welcome case studies that may illustrate both the concrete impact of classical normativity and concrete examples of prejudice and exclusion as resulting from this normativity. We think of topics such as

• the Classics themselves as victims of retrospective ‘classical’ normativity
• the exclusion of literary periods that are considered non- or even contra-classical (baroque, medieval, …) and the clash with non-European literature
• literary ‘renaissances’ and their implications
• classical normativity and its impact on literatures obedient to political aims (fascism, populism, …)
• literary appeal to the classics as a way of structuring and (re-)formulating society (‘higher’ liberal arts vs. ‘lower’ crafts and proficiencies, literary attitudes towards slavery, …)
• …

We accept papers in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Please send an abstract of ca. 300 words and a five line biography to relics@ugent.be by 15 April 2018.

ORGANISATION: Wim Verbaal, Paolo Felice Sacchi and Tim Noens are members of the research group RELICS (Researchers of European Literary Identities, Cosmopolitanism and the Schools). This research group studies historical literatures and the dynamics that shape a common, European literary identity. It sees this literary identity as particularly negotiated through languages that reached a cosmopolitan status due to fixed schooling systems (Latin, Greek and Arabic), and in their interaction with vernacular literatures. From a diachronic perspective, we aim to seek unity within the ever more diverse, literary Europe, from the first to the eighteenth century, i.e. from the beginning of (institutionally organized) education in the cosmopolitan language to the rise of more national oriented education.

Call for Sessions: Mary Jaharis Center Sponsored Panel, 44th Annual Byzantine Studies Conference

As part of its ongoing commitment to Byzantine studies, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture seeks proposals for a Mary Jaharis Center sponsored session at the 44th Annual Byzantine Studies Conference to be held in San Antonio, TX, October 4–7, 2018. We invite session proposals on any topic relevant to Byzantine studies.

Session proposals must be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website (https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/44th-annual-annual-byzantine-studies-conference). The deadline for submission is February 5, 2018. Proposals should include:

—Proposed session title

—CV of session organizer

—300-word session summary, which includes a summary of the overall topic, the format for the panel (such as a debate, papers followed by a discussion, or a traditional session of papers), and the reasons for covering the topic as a prearranged, whole session

—Session chair and academic affiliation. Please note: Session chairs cannot present a paper in the session.

—Information about the four papers to be presented in the session. For each paper: name of presenter and academic affiliation, proposed paper title, and 500-word abstract. Please note: Presenters must be members of BSANA in good standing.

Session organizers may present a paper in the session or chair the session. If a co-organzier is proposed for the session, the co-organizer must also give a paper in the session or chair the session.

Applicants will be notified by February 9, 2018. The organizer of the selected session is responsible for submitting the session to the BSC by February 15, 2018. Instructions for submitting the panel proposal are included in the BSC Call for Papers (http://www.bsana.net/conference/2018_BSANA_CFP.pdf).

If the proposed session is approved, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse session participants (presenters and chair, if the proposed chair is selected by the BSC program committee) up to $600 maximum for North American residents and up to $1200 maximum for those coming from abroad. Funding is through reimbursement only (check issued in US dollars or wire transfer); advance funding cannot be provided. Eligible expenses include conference registration, transportation, and food and lodging. Receipts are required for reimbursement.

Please contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.

New Feminisms
A Call for Manuscripts for a Special Issue of postmedieval: A Journal of Medieval Cultural Studies
Edited by Samantha Katz Seal and Nicole Nolan Sidhu

Every so often, every other medieval studies conference or so, we come together to bury feminism.  That is not to say that we do not praise it first; we eulogize its triumphs, its activism, its publications and practitioners.  But, our praise is offered only in so far as we may declare an end to what has come before; we will laud feminist theory as pivotal, but only if it is past.   As Elizabeth Robertson has noted, feminism is a word that medievalists increasingly do not say, and as Nicole Nolan Sidhu has concluded from an analysis of journal and university statistics, feminist inquiry is now rewarded with neither publication nor career promotion.[1]  Even as the community of medievalists who identify as feminists grows, swelling the ranks of the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship, the “myth” of feminist medieval studies and its intellectual impact upon the field at large has been increasingly restricted and retrospective.

This special issue of postmedieval calls for manuscripts that fight against such rituals of silence and silencing.  We hope to bring together pieces from all disciplines of medieval studies that testify to the vitality, transformations, and innovations of a 21^st century feminist approach to the Middle Ages.  In particular, we look for scholarship that embraces an intersectional view of feminism, and which are alive to the possibilities for overlap and collaboration with race studies, gender and sexuality studies, and class studies, among others.  We also welcome articles that employ some of the “cutting-edge” theories of contemporary medievalist scholarship (such as ecocriticism, digital projects, disability theory, or affect theory), while also asking authors to reflect on how such analytic methodologies can coexist rather than compete with feminism.  Another possible approach to the cfp would be to consider how a feminist approach to medieval studies might inform contemporary activism or social justice initiatives.  We hope for a range of articles on this wide diversity of topics.

Articles may be collaborative pieces or single-authored and should be between 5000-7000 words (including notes and bibliography).  Deadlines for final versions of articles will be staggered between August 1 of 2018 and January 1, 2019. Please indicate your preferred deadline (August 1, Sept. 1, Oct. 1, etc.) in the abstract. Please email submissions to Samantha Katz Seal (samantha.seal@unh.edu).  Postmedieval welcomes articles that are written in lively prose, use language creatively, avoid jargon, and utilize historicist, materialist, comparatist, and theoretical methods.

[1] Elizabeth Robertson, “Medieval Feminism in Middle English Studies: A Retrospective,” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 26. 1 (Spring, 2007), 67-79; Nicole Nolan Sidhu, “Love in a Cold Climate: The Future of Feminism and Gender Studies in Middle English Scholarship,” Literature Compass 6.4 (July, 2009), 864-85.

The Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature
Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada
April 26-28, 2018

Call for papers

We invite abstracts for 20-minute conference presentations on any aspect of British literature from the 18^th-century and earlier, for the 2018 NPCEBL annual conference.  Scholars from any academic rank (including undergraduate students) are invited to apply.

Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Randall Martin, Professor at the University of New Brunswick, and author of Shakespeare and Ecology (Oxford University Press, 2015), speaking on the subject of

“Shakespeare and the Natural World”

To complement Dr. Martin’s keynote address, we particularly solicit abstracts that relate to “Early British Literature and the Natural World,” because “this our life, … / Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, / Sermons in stones, and good in everything” (As You Like It, 2.1.15-17). Of course, any and all papers on any aspect of early British literature are welcome and encouraged.

Please submit abstracts, via email, no later than March 1, 2018 to npcebl@brandonu.ca.

For more information, please contact Dr. Deanna Smid, Dr. Lesley Glendinning, Reyna Nadeau, or Emily Kroeker at npcebl@brandonu.ca, or visit npcebl.org.

39^th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum:
Image and Visual Experience in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Keene State College
Keene, NH, USA
Friday and Saturday April 13-14, 2018

Call for Papers and Sessions

We are delighted to announce that the 39^th Medieval and Renaissance Forum: Image and Visual Experience in the Middle Ages and Renaissance will take place on April 13 and 14, 2018 at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire.

We welcome abstracts (one page or less) or panel proposals that discuss images and visual experience in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Papers and sessions, however, need not be confined to this theme but may cover other aspects of medieval and Renaissance life, literature, languages, art, philosophy, theology, history, and music.

This year’s keynote speaker is Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art and Culture at Harvard University who will speak on “The Diagram Paradigm in the Middle Ages—and Beyond.”

Professor Hamburger’s teaching and research focus on the art of the High and later Middle Ages. Among his areas of special interest are medieval manuscript illumination, text-image issues, the history of attitudes towards imagery and visual experience, German vernacular religious writing of the Middle Ages, especially in the context of mysticism, and, most recently, diagrams, the topic of his forthcoming book: From Cross to Crucifix: Typology, Diagrams and Devotion in Berthold of Nuremberg’s Commentary on Hrabanus Maurus’ In honorem sanctae crucis.  Dr. Hamburger is also the author of several other books, including St. John the Divine: The Deified Evangelist in Medieval Art and Theology (Berkeley-Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2002), The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany(New York: Zone Books, 1998), Nuns as Artists: The Visual Culture of a Medieval Convent (Berkeley-Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996), and The Rothschild Canticles: Art and Mysticism in Flanders and the Rhineland circa 1300 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990).

All papers presented at this year’s Forum are eligible for inclusion in Selected Proceedings of the 39^th Medieval and Renaissance Forum, to be published by Cambridge Scholars Press.  Contributors interested in publishing their work in this volume should submit their revised essays by May 15, 2018.

Students, faculty, and independent scholars are welcome. Please indicate your status (undergraduate, graduate, or faculty), affiliation (if relevant), and full contact information, including email address on your proposal.

We welcome undergraduate sessions, but require faculty sponsorship.

Please submit abstracts, audio/visual needs, and full contact information to Dr. Robert G. Sullivan, Assistant Forum Director at sullivan@german.umass.edu.

Abstract deadline: January 15, 2018

Presenters and early registration: March 15, 2018

We look forward to greeting returning and first-time participants to Keene in April!