Wounds, Torture, and the Grotesque

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Hortulus: The Online Graduate Journal of Medieval Studies

Organizer Name

Melissa Ridley Elmes

Organizer Affiliation

Univ. of North Carolina-Greensboro

Presider Name

Melissa Ridley Elmes

Paper Title 1

Holy Blood, Holey Body

Presenter 1 Name

Rachel Levinson-Emley

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Univ. of California-Santa Barbara

Paper Title 2

The Vision of Thurkill and the Performance of Purgatory

Presenter 2 Name

Michelle Kustarz

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Wayne State Univ.

Paper Title 3

"Food for the Beasts": Broken Human Bodies in Medieval Bestiary Illuminations

Presenter 3 Name

Susan Anderson

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Arizona State Univ.

Start Date

9-5-2013 1:30 PM

Session Location

Schneider 1125

Description

The topics of torture and wounds are currently of interest in medieval literary and cultural/historical scholarship (recent titles include Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature, D.S. Brewer 2011 and Medicine in the Crusades: Warfare, Wounds and the Medieval Surgeon, Cambridge, 2007). The theme of the Grotesque, on the other hand, has been perennially of interest, particularly for scholars in Art History, Religion and Theology, Anthropology, and Philosophy (e.g. Gargoyles and Grotesques: Paganism in the Medieval Church, New York Graphic Society, 1975; Monsters and Grotesques in Medieval Manuscripts, Toronto UP, 2002). The papers in this panel are considering these themes in combined fashion, opening up discussion on the body and corporeality from the angle of destruction, rather than construction, and approaching the body through consideration of its pain and suffering.

Excerpted from our CFP by Melissa Elmes, on behalf of the Editors of Hortulus