Sunday, October 28, 2007

New Book

Frederick M. Biggs, ed., _The Apocrypha_, Instrumenta Anglistica Medievalia 1
(Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2007). xx, 117 pp. ISBN
978-1-58044-119-3. $12 (softcover).

This volume brings up to date the entries on Apocrypha first published in
_Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture: A Trial Version_, ed. Frederick M.
Biggs, Thomas D. Hill, and Paul E. Szarmach (Binghamton, N.Y., 1990), which
were themselves intended to correct and amplify the entries on Apocrypha first
assembled by J. D. A. Ogilvy in his _Books Known to the English, 597–1066_
(Cambridge, Mass., 1967). The book provides complete coverage of the
knowledge
and transmission of almost eighty apocryphal texts in Anglo-Saxon England,
supported by a bibliography of over 500 titles. This is the first publication
in a new series, Instrumenta Anglistica Medievalia, which is intended to serve
as a forum for interim and subsidiary publications related to the Sources of
Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture project. Copies can be ordered through the MIP
online bookstore (www.wmich.edu/medieval/mip/books/saslc.htm).

New Beowulf Book

Beowulf
An Illustrated Edition


Translated by Seamus Heaney

Illustrations edited by John D. Niles



“This illustrated edition is the next best thing to being in the mead hall at Heorot, watching the action, with Heaney chanting it beside you.” ¾Neil Gaiman

Over fifteen centuries after the events the poem describes take place; ten centuries after the unique manuscript version was written down; almost 200 years after the poem was first published in a modern edition; seven years after the initial publication of Seamus Heaney’s best-selling translation; and coinciding with a Hollywood film adaptation written by Neil Gaiman and starring Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, and Angelina Jolie, the epic Anglo-Saxon tale of Beowulf is more popular, and relevant, than ever before. Yet, whether approached in translation or in the original language, the poem’s action has always seemed to take place in a realm of fantasy rather than in the very real world of Iron Age Scandinavia where it is set. Now, Heaney’s outstanding translation is coupled with over 120 images that document the artifacts mentioned in the poem and evoke its atmosphere and physical setting. BEOWULF: An Illustrated Edition (W.W. Norton; November 5, 2007; $24.95; paper), translated by Seamus Heaney with illustrations edited by John D. Niles, brings the visual world of this touchstone of Western literature vividly to life for the first time.

The story of Beowulf’s triumphs over Grendel and Grendel’s mother and his tragic victory over the dragon—a story charged with the power of fate, the thrills of heroism and its attendant fame, and the complexities of the eternal struggle of good against evil—has never before received the visual celebration it deserves. What sort of buildings did Beowulf and the other characters inhabit? How did the poet envision their ships and horses? What kind of arms and armor did they use? What sort of beasts flourished in their imagination? And what sort of riches awaited those heroes who were triumphant?

Heaney’s translation alone “does something other than bring [Beowulf] up into our time. It transports us to his and lets us wander there; after which home will never seem entirely the same” (The New York Times). This illustrated edition not only transports us to the poem’s milieu but also guides us on our journey. A different image faces almost every page of verse, offering a visual counterpart to the poem’s events or scenes and, sometimes, suggesting answers to questions that have been on the minds of generations of Beowulf readers.

Beautiful photographs of artifacts give us a window into Iron Age Europe, with its helmets, swords, and jewelry. Drawings and photos of reconstructed Viking Age ships are juxtaposed with the sea-voyages to and from Denmark, while photographs of a third-century chain mail shirt and an ancient dagger accompany Beowulf’s escape from the clutches of Grendel’s mother. Dragon-shaped ornaments forged by master smiths punctuate the poem’s dragon episode, while photographs of prehistoric barrows in Denmark and Sweden help readers imagine what the dragon’s lair or the hero’s final resting place might have looked like. The reader is also invited to look inside a reconstruction of a Danish hall, admire goblets of the kind that kings and queens of this period might have passed to their guests, and contemplate woodcuts that evoke the bleak mood of the poem’s closing scenes.

More than simply providing a backdrop for the poem, BEOWULF: An Illustrated Edition offers a crash course in the material culture of northern Europe during the first millennium. The book’s captions, together with a substantial afterword by Niles on “Visualizing Beowulf,” complement these photographs and drawings with much information relating to the archaeology of the period. This is an edition that long-time fans of Beowulf will cherish for its new perspective, that will entice new readers to the poem, and that will appeal to educators who wish to explore new ways of understanding the story.



About the Translator and Editor

Seamus Heaney received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. He teaches regularly at Harvard University and lives in Dublin.

John D. Niles is the Frederic G. Cassidy Professor of Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a specialist in Beowulf studies.

Title: BEOWULF: An Illustrated Edition
Translator: Seamus Heaney
Publication Date: November 5, 2007
Illustrations: 80 color, 41 black-and-white
ISBN: 978-0-393-33010-6
Price: $24.95; paperback

Sad News Last Week: The Passing of Stephen Tranter

From the ISAS list, Winfrid Rudolf reported:

I am sorry to have to report the passing away of my teacher and good friend Stephen Tranter, who died quietly in Trier (Germany) on October 12th after almost nine years of being in a coma. I am not sure whether Stephen's wife Doris has contacted you already, but I am sure she would give her ok to have the sad news spread via ISASnet. Stephen will be known to many colleagues in the field from his work on the sagas and metrical tracts. A product of ASNAC and student of Ray Page and Peter Clemoes, he later studied with Heinz Klingenberg and Hildegard Tristram at Freiburg University. He was a charismatic teacher of Old English, Old Norse and Irish, a keen musician and glorious supporter of Derby County FC. He has more than revived English Medieval Studies at Jena University when he took the refounded professorship in 1996, after an eclipse of this post for 38 years, caused by GDR university politics. He was very much aware of the tradition of English Medieval Studies at Jena (Ettmüller, Sievers, Kluge, Schücking etc.) and was striving for a holistic and colourful way of teaching our subject to students of a mainly atheist background. Thanks to his work, Jena can now pride itself in having a good library of Old and Middle English scholarship again, and a prospering community of graduate students in our field. Stephen has taught me the basic skills of our craft in a very dialogical and open way, and has been a steady companion in my thoughts for the last nine years. It is hard to describe how much he is responsible for what I have become, both as a scholar and human being. He was a lovely man, and I am sure his memory will live on in every good hour of teaching our subject and every bit of humour we gain from working together as Anglo-Saxonists.

Religions of the Book CFP

CALL FOR PAPERS

"Religions of the Book: Manuscript Traditions in
Judaism, Christianity and Islam, 1000-1500"

Second Annual Sacred Leaves Graduate Symposium
February 21-22, 2008
University of South Florida, Tampa Library, Tampa, FL

Keynote Speaker: Thomas E. Burman, Lindsay Young
Associate Professor Department of History, University
of Tennessee, author of *Reading the Qur'an in Latin
Christendom, 1140-1560*

Keynote Address: Thursday, February 21, 2008, 7:00
p.m., Traditions Hall

The Special Collections Department of the Tampa
Library, University of South Florida seeks papers from
graduate students and recent M.A. or Ph.D. recipients
for its Second Annual Sacred Leaves Graduate
Symposium. This year's theme is "Religions of the
Book: Manuscript Traditions in Judaism, Christianity
and Islam, 1000-1500."

We encourage interdisciplinary topics with comparative
emphases on monotheistic religions in the medieval
world.

Subjects for proposals may include, but are not
limited to:

* sacred myth and narrative
* interreligious dialogue
* scriptural exegesis
* modes of representation
* traditions of illumination
* methods of manuscript production

Please email an abstract of no more than 250 words to
Dr. Jane Marie Pinzino, Symposium Coordinator at
jpinzino@lib.usf.edu.

Notification of acceptances will be emailed by January
4, 2008.

Please include the title of your paper, name,
affiliation and email address. Each paper selected
will be allotted 20 minutes for presentation.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE DATE: DECEMBER 14, 2007

The Annual Sacred Leaves Graduate Student Symposium is
organized by the Special Collections Department and
the Humanities Institute, University of South Florida,
Tampa, FL.

Jane Marie Pinzino, Ph.D.
Special Collections Department
University of South Florida, Tampa Library
4202 E. Fowler Avenue, LIB 122
Tampa, FL 33620-5400
813.974-2731 voice
813.396-9006 fax

CFP The Devil In Society

*The Devil in Society in the Pre-modern World*

17 and 18 October 2008
Toronto, Ontario

An international, interdisciplinary conference hosted by the Centre
for Reformation and Renaissance Studies at Victoria College in the
University of Toronto

Keynote speakers include Richard Kieckhefer and Audrey L. Meaney.

This multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine the broad
trajectory of devil beliefs in the period prior to 1650 in order to
help explain what might be termed the general diabolisation of
European thought as it is refracted through society and culture
arguably from the middle of the fifteenth century. By surveying the
variety in form and function of diabolical and demonic discourses and
their social expression both at a series of particular historical
moments, and over the /longue durée/, the conference aims to advance
our understanding of the changing role of the devil in popular and
elite culture and aetiology from late antiquity to its height in the
early modern period.

The conference organisers invite submissions for individual 20-minute
papers, for panels (generally consisting of three papers), and
workshops or round-tables dealing with any aspect of demonism and its
manifestation in the classical, medieval, and Early Modern
traditions. Some possible topics include, but are not limited to:

Antichrist and the End of the World
Clerical and popular demonism
Constructions of the Sabbat
Demonic magic
Demonic possession
Demonologists—medieval and early modern
Demonology and witchcraft
Demons and heresy
Demons and sceptics
Demons in literature and on the stage
Devil in art
Devil in folklore
Demons in hagiography and /exempla/
Demonisation of the “Other”
Exorcism, lay and clerical
Incubi and succubi
Mysticism and diabology
New World demons
Protestant vs. Catholic demons
Women as healers, mystics, and witches

Abstracts of no more than 150 words should be submitted by 15
December 2007, together with a one-page (max) c.v. to Richard
Raiswell (Univ. of Prince Edward Island) and Peter Dendle (Penn State
Univ.) at:

World's largest collection of incunabula will be digitized!

World's largest collection of incunabula will be digitized!

Dear colleagues,

the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München (BSB) holds the largest
collection of incunabula world wide, which currently comprises 9708
editions in nearly 20.000 copies. The collection is described in a
printed catalogue (BSB-Ink) which is freely accessible online:
http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/Inkunabeln.181.0.html

It is a great pleasure for me to let you know that the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft has granted funding for a complete
digitization of the collection.

Over the coming years, one copy of each 15th-century edition held in
the BSB will be digitzed. It is intended to start digitization with
the ca. 1150 incunabula in German and the ca. 680 editions of which
the BSB holds the sole surviving copy in a German library. After
that, books printed in the German-speaking countried in the 15th
century and books printed abroad will be digitized. Illustrations
(mainly woodcuts) will be indexed with an iconographic classification
system.

The digital reproductions will be made accessible through the
electronic catalogue BSB-Ink and other databases (e.g. OPAC, union
catalogues). Currently, BSB-Ink online already provides access to
digital reproductions of nearly 700 incunabula, of which ca. 540 are
broadsides. A list of digitized incunabula (by shelfmark only) is
accessible via the Index Search:
http://mdzx.bib-bvb.de/bsbink/einzelindex.html
- Exemplare mit Scans
- mit Anfangsbuchstaben "Alle"
- Anzeigen

Best regards,
Bettina Wagner



_______________________________________

Dr. Bettina Wagner
Abteilung für Handschriften und Alte Drucke
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Ludwigstr. 16
D-80539 Muenchen
Germany
email: bettina.wagner@bsb-muenchen.de
Tel. +89 / 28638-2982
Fax. +89 / 28638-12982 oder 2266
postbox: D-80328 Muenchen

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Mellon Post-Doc at Notre Dame

Please take note of a Mellon postdoctoral fellowship
opportunity at the
Medieval Institute of the University of Notre Dame,
and alert possible
applicants.

Thank you,

Roberta Baranowski
Assistant Director, Medieval Institute

A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Medieval
Studies
The Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame
offers a
Postdoctoral Fellowship for a junior scholar in
Medieval Studies, made
possible through the generosity of the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation. The
fellowship will permit an outstanding young scholar in
any field of
medieval studies to continue his or her research while
in residence at
Notre Dame's Medieval Institute during the academic
year 2008-2009.

The Mellon Fellow's principal obligation will be to
pursue his or her
research. Though the Fellowship carries no teaching
responsibilities, it
is expected that the Fellow will take advantage of the
opportunity to
participate in the intellectual life of the Institute
and the
multidisiciplinary activities that it sponsors for the
medievalist
community at Notre Dame. The Fellow will be provided
with an office in
the Medieval Institute, full library and computer
privileges, and access
to the Institute's research tools. The Fellow will be
expected to reside
in South Bend.


Eligibility: Applicants must hold a regular
appointment at a U.S.
institution and plan to return to their institution
following their
fellowship year. They must have the Ph.D. in hand as
of the application
date and must not be more than five years beyond the
Ph.D.

Stipend: $40,000.

Application deadline: January 15, 2008.

Application procedure: There is no special application
form. Rather,
applicants should submit a narrative of no more than
five pages
describing their proposed research, indicating how it
builds on existing
scholarship, and suggesting how it will benefit from
broader
interdisciplinary studies. Applicants should also
submit a current
curriculum vitae and arrange for three letters of
reference to be sent
to the Medieval Institute by the January 15 deadline.
Announcement of
the selection will be made in mid-February 2008.


Please send applications to the address below:
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Application
Medieval Institute
715 Hesburgh Library
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
FAX (574) 631-8644.
For further information, contact: Roberta Baranowski,
(574) 631-8304,
Roberta.Baranowski.7@nd.edu

-- Roberta A. Baranowski Assistant Director, Medieval Institute
University of Notre Dame 715 Hesburgh Library Notre Dame, IN 46556
574-631-8304 (telephone) 574-631-8644 (fax)

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

A new Journal of Interest

Cardiff Univeristy's Centre for Late Antique Religion and Culture
(CLARC) is launching a new journal for inter-disciplinary research
into the post-classical and late antique period.

The Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture (JLARC)is a full
text, open access online Journal edited by members and associates of
CLARC and published by Cardiff University.

Contributions are welcome for a wide range of topics in the research
area as defined on the homepage of the centre.

ISSN: 1754-517X

Further information, including details of the editorial board, may be
found at:

http://www.cf.ac.uk/clarc/jlarc/jlarc-home.html

The launch of the journal is planned for the end of November 2007.

ISSN: 1754-517X

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Landscapes of Defence in the Viking Age

Warfare and power play an important role in the formation of
institutions and their manifestation in material culture. The
conference aims to bring together experts from various disciplines to
discuss key issues in the defence of territories during the period of
Viking incursions of the later eighth to eleventh centuries.
Important themes to be addressed include the landscape context of
civil defence structures, communication and logistics, and the social
and political impact of military organisation, in England and in
Europe.

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Nicholas Brooks, Barbara Yorke, Richard
Abels, Andrew Reynolds, Stuart Brookes, John Baker, Gareth Williams,
Dorn van Dommelen, Peter Ettel, Dries Tys, Johnny De Meulemeester,
Stefan Brink, Julio Escalona, Juan Antonio Quiros Castillo, Lena
Holmquist-Olausson, Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson, David Hill.

The conference will take place on 9th and 10th November at the
Institute of Archaeology, UCL. Full details, including the programme
and registration details, are available at
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/project/beyond-burghal/conference/index.htm
For further enquiries, please contact Dr John Baker, Institute of
Name Studies, School of English Studies, University of Nottingham,
University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD or email
John.Baker@nottingham.ac.uk
**

-- Dr Stuart Brookes
UCL Institute of Archaeology
31-4 Gordon Square
London WC1H 0PY
Tel: 020 7679 4723

Richard Hogg obituary

The unfortunate and sad passing of Richard Hogg:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2172759,00.html

*AUSTRALIAN EARLY MEDIEVAL ASSOCIATION FIFTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE*

*WELCOMING THE STRANGER IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES*

*AEMA's fifth annual conference will be held from 1-3 October 2008 at
the Sebel Conference Suites, Charlotte Street, Brisbane, hosted by
the Australian Catholic University.*

*The period from late antiquity to the early middle ages was one of
great social movement, of both individuals and people groups. How
did people respond to demands made upon them for hospitality and
charity by pilgrims, casualties of war, refugees, orphans, widows,
those of other religions, the sick, the poor, itinerant monks and
nuns, travelling traders and others?*

*Invited speakers:*
*Dr Anna Silvas, University of New England*
*Dr Wendy Mayer, Washington DC*

*Papers are now invited on a broad range of topics related to the
theme of 'Welcoming the Stranger', tapping various sources, including
literature, archaeology, epigraphy and the arts. A title and a 250
word abstract should be sent by 30 June 2008 to the Conference
Convenor. Please include affiliation and contact details with your
abstract.*

*Download the call for papers
<http://home.vicnet.net.au/%7Emedieval/conference2008/callforpapers08.pdf>.*
*Conference convenor:*
*Dr Bronwen Neil*
*Centre for Early Christian Studies*
*Australian Catholic University*
*PO Box 456*
*Virginia*
*Queensland 4014*
*email b.neil@mcauley.acu.edu.au

Heroic Age Call for Papers

Call for Papers

The Heroic Age, Issue 14: Law and Legal Culture in the Early Middle

Ages

Guest Editor: Andrew Rabin, University of Louisville

The Heroic Age invites submissions for a special issue on law and
legal culture in the early middle ages. We construe the subject of
this issue broadly, and we are eager to receive submissions
representing a variety of perspectives, methodologies, national or
ethnic cultures, and disciplines. Possible topics include (but are
not limited to): royal legislation, legal manuscripts, law in/and
literature, legal procedure, charters and diplomatics, writs and
wills, dispute resolution, theories of law and justice, canon law,
editing medieval law, law and philosophy, perceptions of medieval law
in later periods, law in/and art, international law, and intersections
between medieval Asian and European legal traditions. We welcome
traditional philological and historicist approaches, as well as those
informed by modern critical theory.

Prospective contributors should feel free to contact Andrew Rabin
(andrew.rabin@louisville.edu) if they have any questions.

Articles should be 7000 words including bibliography and endnotes, and
conform to The Heroic Age's in-house style. Instructions may be found
at http://www.heroicage.org/authors.html. All submissions will be
reviewed by two readers according to a double-blind policy. All
submissions should be sent to haediting@yahoo.com. The deadline for
submission is July 1st, 2008.

The Heroic Age is an on-line, peer-reviewed academic journal hosted by
the Memorial University of Newfoundland. It focuses on Northwestern
Europe during the early medieval period (from the late 4th through
11th centuries). We seek to foster dialogue between all scholars of
this period across ethnic and disciplinary boundaries, including-but
not limited to-history, archaeology, and literature pertaining to the
period.

CFP: AS Sts Colloquium, Grad. Student Conf.

The Anglo-Saxon Studies Colloquium
is pleased to announce a call for papers:

Pleasure in Anglo-Saxon England

The 4th annual Anglo-Saxon Studies Colloquium
Graduate Student Conference

Saturday, February 16th 2008

Yale University


Yale University, in partnership with the Anglo-Saxon
Studies Colloquium (Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton,
NYU), invites submissions for the fourth annual
graduate student conference sponsored by the
Colloquium. The theme of this year’s conference is “Pleasure in
Anglo-Saxon England.” We invite submissions addressing
any and all manifestations of pleasure in Old English
or Anglo-Latin texts, Anglo-Saxon history, art,
religion, or archaeology. We welcome a variety of
methodologies, being equally pleased by the
philological delight of a word study as by a
wide-ranging treatment of emotions in Anglo-Saxon
society. We also invite papers on the particular
pleasures that the Anglo-Saxon world offers
post-medieval scholars, artists, and armchair
antiquarians. In the tradition of the Colloquium, we
will be having respondents for the paper
presentations, which should be no longer than ten
minutes. Possible topics include:

- emotions in Anglo-Saxon England
- pleasure and religion
- word-play and language play
- the joy of objects
- Anglo-Saxon recreation
- food and feasting
- Anglo-Saxon music
- reception of Anglo-Saxon literature and culture
- Anglo-Saxon aesthetics
- pleasure of the exotic
- personal relationships
- depictions of heaven
- definition of the good
- luxury goods
- desire and appetite
- the senses
- the regulation of pleasure
- dreams Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words by
November 26, 2007. Include your contact information,
including active email address, street address, and
phone number, and any requests for audio-visual
equipment. You may submit abstracts via email to
pleasureatyale@hotmail.com, or send paper submissions
to P.O. Box 208302, New Haven, CT 06520. (Paper
submissions should arrive by the deadline.) Conference organizers:
Irina Dumitrescu, Denis
Ferhatovic, Jordan Zweck.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Authority, Authorship, and Audience in the Middle Ages

The sixth annual Conference for Medieval Studies, a graduate student
conference sponsored by Comitatus, the Purdue Medieval Studies
student organization, will be held at Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Indiana from February 15-16, 2008. The theme for this
year’s conference will be "Authority, Authorship, and Audience in the
Middle Ages." Eve Salisbury, Associate Professor of English at
Western Michigan University will be the plenary speaker for this
year’s conference. Our theme looks at the concept of authorship in
the Middle Ages. Because our modern understanding of authorship is
quite different from the Middle Ages, the idea of how to define
authorship and who should be called an author are questions well
worth pursuing. Wrapped into the questions about authorship are
questions of authority and audience. We are inviting 250-word
abstracts for papers as well as panel proposals from graduate
students and advanced undergraduates. Individual papers should be 15-
20 minutes in length to allow time for discussion. All facets of
authorship, particularly those submissions that engage the concept of
authorship through art, architecture, gender, historical
documentation, manuscript creation, or literature are particularly
welcome. Possible topics might include but are not limited to the
following: - How has a particular author(s) used source material to
establish another meaning for the text? - How is authorship defined
when looking at an artifact that is not text-based? - How does gender
affect both author and authority? Does gender affect the power
structures of a work? - Who had the authority to write about
religious topics? What happened when someone outside those bounds
wrote "authoritatively" about religion? - What political agendas
might an author/artist/designer have? - How does knowing the
authorship (and potential bias) of a writer of a historical chronicle
affect the reading of that chronicle? Due Date for Abstracts: October
15, 2007 Please send all abstracts to: Karen Robinson
krobinson@purdue.edu (preferred) Purdue University Department of
English 500 Oval Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907-2038
-- Emily E. Redman Ph.D. Candidate Purdue University Heavilon Hall
500 Oval Drive West Lafayette, IN 47907-2038 Phone: 765-379-2353

Celtic Conference in Classics

CELTIC CONFERENCE IN CLASSICS - first notice

The next Celtic Conference in Classics, the fifth, will be at University College Cork, 9-12 July 2008 (Wednesday-Saturday). All are welcome.

The panels (provisionally) are to be:

` "Aristocracy" and Social Mobility in Antiquity'
Chairs: Nick Fisher (Cardiff) and Hans van Wees (London)

`New Approaches to Greek Comedy'
Chair: Keith Sidwell (Cork)

`Les femmes et la religion dans le monde gre/co-romain'
Pre/sidants: Pierre Brule/ (Rennes II), Ve/ronique Mehl (Lorient)

‘Authority and Authenticity in Ancient Narrative’ - a KYKNOS panel.
Chairs: John Morgan (Swansea), Mirjam Plantinga (Lampeter), Ian Repath (Swansea)

`Vision and Power: The Theory, Practice and Representation of Viewing in Ancient Greece'
Chairs: Sue Blundell (London), Douglas Cairns (Edinburgh), Nancy Rabinowitz (Hamilton College)

`Medieval Ireland and the Classical Past'
Chair: David Woods (Cork)

`Herodotos and Sparta' and `Thucydides and Sparta'
Chairs: Stephen Hodkinson (Nottingham), Ellen Millender (Reed), Anton Powell (UWICAH)
------------------------
The Celtic Conference aims to develop collective projects in a setting which is hospitable intellectually and socially. The timetable is designed to encourage members to move between panels as they wish.

Friday, October 5, 2007

New Book

Frederick M. Biggs, ed., _The Apocrypha_, Instrumenta Anglistica Medievalia 1
(Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2007). xx, 117 pp. ISBN
978-1-58044-119-3. $12 (softcover).

This volume brings up to date the entries on Apocrypha first published in
_Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture: A Trial Version_, ed. Frederick M.
Biggs, Thomas D. Hill, and Paul E. Szarmach (Binghamton, N.Y., 1990), which
were themselves intended to correct and amplify the entries on Apocrypha first
assembled by J. D. A. Ogilvy in his _Books Known to the English, 597–1066_
(Cambridge, Mass., 1967). The book provides complete coverage of the
knowledge
and transmission of almost eighty apocryphal texts in Anglo-Saxon England,
supported by a bibliography of over 500 titles. This is the first publication
in a new series, Instrumenta Anglistica Medievalia, which is intended to serve
as a forum for interim and subsidiary publications related to the Sources of
Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture project. Copies can be ordered through the MIP
online bookstore (www.wmich.edu/medieval/mip/books/saslc.htm).

CFP

he Society for Late Antiquity solicits proposals for a panel to be held at the annual meeting of the American Philological Association on 8-11 January 2009 in Philadelphia, PA (USA). There are no funds available to subsidize travel, and panelists must be members of the APA in order to present.

The Third Sophistic: New Approaches to Rhetoric in Late Antiquity

Sponsored by the Society for Late Antiquity. Organized by Paul Kimball, Bilkent University.


It is a well-known paradox of Greco-Roman culture that well after the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the state under Constantine the art of rhetoric successfully maintained its privileged place in the articulation of political, pedagogical, religious, philosophical, and literary power. Late antiquity witnessed a remarkable surge in rhetorical output in both Greek (Libanius, Himerius, Themistius, Julian, Procopius of Gaza, Choricius) and Latin (the Panegyrici Latini, Symmachus, Ausonius, Marius Victorinus). Moreover, under the new establishment the rapprochement between traditional "pagan" rhetoric and Judaeo-Christian modes of _expression already evident in Christian apologetic writings of the second and third centuries gained momentum, culminating in the fourth and fifth-century "Golden Age" of Christian rhetoric as represented by the works of Eusebius of Caesarea, the Cappadocian Fathers, and John Chrysostom (in Greek), and Lactantius, Ambrose, and Augustine (in Latin). Before the end of the sixth century the corpus of Hermogenes would achieve canonical status, and in 426 CE Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana fused once and for all Cicero's rhetorical theory with the Christian project of evangelism and exegesis.

In light of the wealth of available source material and its parallels to the much more extensively studied Second Sophistic, European scholarship over the past two decades has increasingly come to identify this period as the "Third Sophistic." While this formulation stresses synchronic linkages at the expense of diachronic perspectives, it is nonetheless worthwhile to examine this phase in the cultural history of the late empire as a unity. The Society for Late Antiquity thus invites proposals for a panel featuring innovative approaches to the study of rhetoric in late antiquity. These might address such issues as the relationship of rhetoric to poetry, philosophy, and historiography; performance and self-presentation; reception and audience; rhetoric, law, and political authority; rhetoric and homiletics; ekphrasis and the rhetorical construction of space. These are only suggestions and proposals which investigate other lines of research are welcome.

Abstracts of papers (ca. 500 words) requiring a maximum of 20 minutes to deliver should be sent via email attachment no later than February 1, 2008 to Paul Kimball (pkimball@bilkent.edu.tr ), or by surface mail (Dr. Paul Kimball, Program in Cultures, Civilizations & Ideas, Bilkent University, 06800 Bilkent, Ankara, TURKEY). Please follow the instructions for the format of individual abstracts in the APA Program Guide. All submissions will be judged anonymously by two referees.

--
Dr. Paul E. Kimball
Program in Cultures, Civilizations, and Ideas
Bilkent University
06800 Bilkent
Ankara, TURKEY
office: (+90) 312 290 1034
fax: (+90) 312 266 4606

Theorizing the Early Middle Ages

CALL FOR PAPERS

Theorizing the Early Middle Ages, March 27-30 2008, Pacific University,
Oregon

Theorizing the Early Middle Ages is an interdisciplinary conference
designed to foster and even invent cross-disciplinary, theoretical
discussion and exchange concerning the sex/gender system, concepts of
space, ritual, and other aspects of early medieval studies (c. 500-1000)
that lend themselves to theoretical analysis within its various
historical, material, liturgical, and literary contexts. The conference
planners ideally seek contributions from literary scholars, queer
theorists, architectural historians, art historians, paleographers,
medical historians, political historians, social historians, church
historians, and economic historians interested in the application of
theoretical analysis of “Dark Age” cultural, sex/gender, and class
systems. Equally, the organizers are looking for theoretically
adventurous submissions, ones arguing for the full inclusion of the
early medieval era within broader works on sexed, medical, and
architectural bodies, spaces, images, and behaviors. Proposals that
focus on “Dark Age” clerical and warrior bodies, wealthy and servile
bodies, and male and female bodies would be especially welcome.
Plenary Speakers:
Theorizing the Early Middle Ages will showcase two plenary speakers:
• Professor and Loyola Faculty Scholar, Allen J. Frantzen (Loyola
University Chicago). Professor Frantzen’s research interests include
Old and Middle English literature, literary history, history of
sexuality, gay and lesbian studies, literary theory and criticism,
textual criticism, gender and domestic space. Notable publications:
Before the Closet: Same-Sex Love from Beowulf to Angels in America
(Chicago, 1998); Bloody Good: Chivalry, Sacrifice, and World War I
(Chicago, 2004); the electronic edition of the Anglo-Saxon penitentials
available at www.Anglo-Saxon.net; and a collection of essays co-edited
with archaeologist John Hines, Caedmon’s Hymn and Material Culture in
the World of Bede (West Virginia, 2007).

• Professor Dame Janet (aka ‘Jinty’) Nelson (King’s College,
University of London). Professor Nelson’s research interests include
women and gender, gendering the Carolingian court, sexuality and gender
trouble among the Carolingian nobility and royalty, and competitive
corporeal styles between monks and knights. Notable publications:
Politics and Ritual in Early Medieval Europe (London, 1986); The
Frankish World (London, 1996); and Rulers and Ruling Families in Earlier
Medieval Europe (London, 1999).

The Venue:
Pacific University is a forward-thinking, private institution known for
providing comprehensive liberal arts and professional education.
Pacific's main campus is located in Forest Grove, Oregon, a distinctive
location that offers the best of many worlds. It combines the vibrant
metropolitan life of nearby Portland, the charm and serenity of the
fertile Tualatin Valley, and the stark beauty of the Oregon Coast. As
part of the conference activities, the organizers will host an opening
reception at McMenamins (a local brewery), and arrange a dinner at a
local vineyard, a second dinner at Pittock Mansion in downtown Portland,
and a trip to the Oregon Coast. Paper Abstracts:
If you would like to read a paper at Theorizing the Early Middle Ages,
please send a two-hundred word abstract along with a current CV to:

Lynda Coon
Department of History
Old Main 416
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
U.S.A.

Or by e-mail: llcoon@uark.edu

Deadline for submitting abstracts: November 1, 2007. The organizers
will have a complete schedule for the conference by late January 2008.
Please contact us if you have any questions or need additional
information.

Conference Organizers:
Lynda Coon (History, University of Arkansas, llcoon@uark.edu)

Beth Hudson (Willamette University, beth_hudson@jhu.edu)

Martha Rampton (History, Pacific University and Director, Center for
Women and Gender Equity, Pacific University Ramptonm@pacificu.edu)

Kim Sexton (Architecture, University of Arkansas, ksexton@uark.edu)

Conference Sponsor:
History Department
Pacific University
2043 College Way
Forest Grove, Oregon 97116
Phone: 503 352 2772

Fax: 503 352 3195

Postdoctoral Research Associate post in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts

The 'English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220' AHRC-funded research project, co-directed by Elaine Treharne and Mary Swan, is advertising for a postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Leicester. Full details can be found at http://www.le.ac.uk/personnel/jobs/a&r.html and also at http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/YX409/Research_Associate_in_Medieval_Studies/

Please circulate this note to any colleagues or recent PhD graduates who might be interested in applying.

Oral Tradition

For those who missed it:

We are very pleased to notify you that all 22 years of our journal Oral Tradition are now available online and free of charge at



http://journal.oraltradition.org



This site now contains nearly 500 articles and 10,000 pages, with all of the contents downloadable as pdf files that you can read online or print out as you wish. The entire electronic archive of Oral Tradition is also searchable by keyword or author name, with phrase-based and Boolean searches possible as well.



In return, may we ask you to forward this e-mail announcement to at least five colleagues in your field? It would be especially helpful if you selected colleagues whom you feel might not be aware of Oral Tradition’s migration to an internet-based, open-access format, or who might not already know that the entire run of the journal is now available gratis.



There are also several other ways to assist us with the process of notifying colleagues, and we would greatly appreciate your assistance: electronic links to the site in (1) personal blogs and (2) professional websites, as well as (3) announcements in journals and newsletters in your field. Any or all of these strategies would certainly help to get the news to colleagues on a broad scale.



Thank you for whatever you can do to help inform our community and share a resource that was created for the common good.



The Center for Studies in Oral Tradition at the University of Missouri (http://oraltradition.org) is gratified to be able to offer Oral Tradition to anyone worldwide with an internet connection and a browser. We hope that the online, open-access format will enlarge and diversify the journal’s readership, and particularly that it will offer everyone interested in the world’s oral traditions – regardless of their location and academic context – an equal opportunity to contribute actively to the discussion. Our shared field will prosper most readily if it operates as an academic democracy without financial or distributional barriers.



As for future contents, the next issue of Oral Tradition (volume 22, number 2) will be a special collection devoted to Basque traditions, and will include descriptive and analytical articles, interviews with oral poets, and an eCompanion with photographic, audio, and video support. Beyond that issue we will be publishing articles on Albanian oral law, Native American storytelling, modern Greek oral poetry, Welsh saints’ lives, modern Balinese epic, and many other topics across the international spectrum.



We welcome your comments and especially your submissions for publication.