The Violent Ends of Sensation

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Special Session

Organizer Name

Molly Lewis, Arthur J. Russell

Organizer Affiliation

George Washington Univ., Arizona State Univ.

Presider Name

Molly Lewis

Paper Title 1

Beautiful Filth: Cleanness's Sensually Appealing Sins and the Dirtiness of the Incarnation

Presenter 1 Name

James C. Staples

Presenter 1 Affiliation

New York Univ.

Paper Title 2

Historiographic Sensations in the Siege of Jerusalem

Presenter 2 Name

Julie Orlemanski

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Univ. of Chicago

Paper Title 3

Tasting Blood: The Kill and the Feast in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Presenter 3 Name

Casey Ireland

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Virginia

Paper Title 4

Respondent

Presenter 4 Name

J. Allan Mitchell

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Univ. of Victoria

Start Date

15-5-2015 1:30 PM

Session Location

Schneider 1265

Description

Recent scholarship has made positive use of the study of the senses, in so far as the senses enable modern audiences to have deeper and more significant encounters with past cultures, histories, and literatures. Yet, for all the positive sensations we recognize, medieval senses are just as often engaged violently in and by art and literature to inculcate difference, justify brutality, and/or cultivate sympathy. This session features papers that explore violent appeals to the senses, the sensational strategies of medieval authors and artists, and the ends these appeals serve.

Arthur J. Russell and Molly Lewis