Mistakes, Mishaps, and Medieval Moments of Failure
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Medieval Studies Workshop, Univ. of Chicago
Organizer Name
Nancy Thebaut, Jennifer Timmons
Organizer Affiliation
Univ. of Chicago, Univ. of Chicago
Presider Name
Nancy Thebaut, Jennifer Timmons
Paper Title 1
Domesday Does Nothing For Them
Presenter 1 Name
Alexis Kellner Becker
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Harvard Univ.
Paper Title 2
Rhetorical Failure, Rhetorical Shame: Gunzo, Anselmo, Abelard
Presenter 2 Name
Monika Otter
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Dartmouth College
Paper Title 3
The Fall of Man and the Failure of Hermeneutics
Presenter 3 Name
Martin Schwarz
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Univ. of Chicago
Paper Title 4
Margery Kempe's Cruel Optimism
Presenter 4 Name
Megan Cook
Presenter 4 Affiliation
Colby College
Start Date
11-5-2014 10:30 AM
Session Location
Schneider 1160
Description
We often say that history is written by the victors. But what of the losers, the mistakes, the campaigns lost, the scribes who erred, the catastrophic or minor moments of failure in medieval art, history, and
literature? Many such failures result in the loss of lands or reputation, misunderstandings, and even now-comical images (e.g. the horned Moses). Other modes of failure have been recognized as more
obviously productive, including the purported failure of art or language to adequately describe the divine in much of medieval Christian theology. Scholars ranging widely from Judith (Jack) Halberstram to
Denys Turner have rightly advocated for alternative ways of knowing that do not just privilege narratives of hegemonic success. However, it appears that the place of failure still occupies a particularly fraught
position in medieval history. Failure is at once recognized as central to techniques of confession, self-improvement, and personal humility while also dismissed as the unrecoverable and unimportant flotsam of history, demonstrated by the dearth of studies on mistakes and errors of persons, texts, and images. We hope in this panel to implicitly
question our own methodological approaches through studies of failure in the Middle Ages and to consider the multiform and even contradictory
ways that failure was construed by medieval audiences. We welcome papers from all disciplines that investigate or theorize failure in the medieval world.
Nancy Thebaut, Jennifer Timmons
Mistakes, Mishaps, and Medieval Moments of Failure
Schneider 1160
We often say that history is written by the victors. But what of the losers, the mistakes, the campaigns lost, the scribes who erred, the catastrophic or minor moments of failure in medieval art, history, and
literature? Many such failures result in the loss of lands or reputation, misunderstandings, and even now-comical images (e.g. the horned Moses). Other modes of failure have been recognized as more
obviously productive, including the purported failure of art or language to adequately describe the divine in much of medieval Christian theology. Scholars ranging widely from Judith (Jack) Halberstram to
Denys Turner have rightly advocated for alternative ways of knowing that do not just privilege narratives of hegemonic success. However, it appears that the place of failure still occupies a particularly fraught
position in medieval history. Failure is at once recognized as central to techniques of confession, self-improvement, and personal humility while also dismissed as the unrecoverable and unimportant flotsam of history, demonstrated by the dearth of studies on mistakes and errors of persons, texts, and images. We hope in this panel to implicitly
question our own methodological approaches through studies of failure in the Middle Ages and to consider the multiform and even contradictory
ways that failure was construed by medieval audiences. We welcome papers from all disciplines that investigate or theorize failure in the medieval world.
Nancy Thebaut, Jennifer Timmons