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Research Group for Medieval Philology
International Conference

Women's Literary Culture and the Medieval Canon

The Leverhulme International Network ‘Women’s Literary Culture and the Medieval Canon’ announces its conference in Bergen 22-24 June 2017.

Illustrasjon fra "The Book of the City of Ladies" som viser adlige kvinner bygge en by
The Book of the City of Ladies, Christine de Pizane, Harley MS 4431
Photo:
British Library

Main content

This international conference is organized by Professor Diane Watt and Dr Laura Saetveit Miles as part of the Leverhulme International Network, ‘Women’s Literary Culture and the Medieval Canon’, led by the University of Surrey, in collaboration with the Universities of Bangor, Bergen, Boston, Durham, Lausanne, Swansea, and Texas A&M.

Over the last three decades medieval women's writing has become a significant focus of innovative research. Yet, despite this wealth of ground-breaking scholarship, the established canon of medieval literature has remained fundamentally unchallenged. This conference will explore the importance of considering women's engagement with textual culture in understanding the medieval literary can on. While the network has hitherto focused largely on English texts and traditions, we welcome papers that focus on European sources.

Themes that will be explored in the conference include:

Women as authorsWomen as translators
Women as patronsWomen readers
Book ownership in the householdBook ownership in women’s religious communities
Anonymous textsManuscript production
Genre and genderLiterary influence
Literary receptionCollaboration

 

Call for papers

We anticipate contributors giving papers of 20-30 minutes. Please submit proposed titles and abstracts of 300 words, with a short academic biography, by 25 September 2016 to Lynette Kerridge