CFP: ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Appropriations of Medieval English Literature’
This is a call for papers for a special session at the 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, 10 – 13 May 2007, at Western Michigan University.
The writer of Ecclesiastes laments, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” This session aims to explore various models of appropriation of medieval English literature. Topics include the adoption of the medieval concept of auctoritas; the use of earlier texts as polemic; the adaptation of earlier or contemporary material for satirical purposes; the deliberate or accedintal misattribution of an author to a text; and the material reuse of manuscript pages in bookbinding, the assembly of leaf books, and the composition of commonplace books.
People interested in presenting at this session should send an abstract of no more than 250 words to me (contact information is at the top of my c.v.); in addition, they should either fax an abstract cover sheet or send the appropriate information with their proposals. Abstracts and cover sheets are due no later than 15 September 2006.