Jetpack Cats and Penis Trees: An Oral-Traditional Approach to Humor in Medieval Texts
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Rebecca M. Mouser, Claire Schmidt
Organizer Affiliation
Missouri Southern State Univ., Missouri Valley College
Presider Name
Rebecca M. Mouser
Paper Title 1
Oral-Traditional Theory and the Audience for Middle English Romance
Presenter 1 Name
Paul D. Gaffney
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Hiram College
Paper Title 2
Nuns and Anthropomorphic Penis Beasts in Fifteenth-Century Germany
Presenter 2 Name
Rabia Gregory
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Univ. of Missouri-Columbia
Paper Title 3
Tendentious Anglo-Saxon Humor and the Exeter Book Riddles
Presenter 3 Name
Claire Schmidt
Start Date
15-5-2016 8:30 AM
Session Location
Fetzer 1045
Description
Oral-traditional theory informs many aspects of medieval texts, from production and aesthetics to structure and content. It is the purpose of this session to explore the intersections of medieval literature and art, oral-traditional theory, and humor theory. Few categories of human expressive culture are at once so categorically structured and yet so culturally transgressive as humor. Successfully deployed humor depends on a mutually agreed-upon and contextually-based understanding between the audience and the performer. Oral-traditional theory brings much to the study of medieval humor and provides a toolbox for careful exploration of this aspect of literature and art. This session allows for interaction between scholars from multiple fields such as literature, history, psychology, religion, art history and archeology, and folklore.
Jetpack Cats and Penis Trees: An Oral-Traditional Approach to Humor in Medieval Texts
Fetzer 1045
Oral-traditional theory informs many aspects of medieval texts, from production and aesthetics to structure and content. It is the purpose of this session to explore the intersections of medieval literature and art, oral-traditional theory, and humor theory. Few categories of human expressive culture are at once so categorically structured and yet so culturally transgressive as humor. Successfully deployed humor depends on a mutually agreed-upon and contextually-based understanding between the audience and the performer. Oral-traditional theory brings much to the study of medieval humor and provides a toolbox for careful exploration of this aspect of literature and art. This session allows for interaction between scholars from multiple fields such as literature, history, psychology, religion, art history and archeology, and folklore.