Othering Texts in Medieval Literature and Historiography

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Kaiserchronik Project, Dept. of German and Dutch, Univ. of Cambridge (AHRC Grant)

Organizer Name

Christoph Pretzer

Organizer Affiliation

Univ. of Cambridge

Presider Name

Thomas Foerster

Presider Affiliation

Univ. of Cambridge

Paper Title 1

Does Evil Break Forth from Out of North? Identity and Alterity in the Idea of the North in Twelfth-Century Universal Histories

Presenter 1 Name

Eric Wolever

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Univ. of York

Paper Title 2

Between Artifice and Manifestation: Poetological Invention and Composition in Early Vernacular Prologues

Presenter 2 Name

Christoph Pretzer

Paper Title 3

Developing Ethnic Consciousness in Vernacular Chronicles

Presenter 3 Name

Thomas R. Leek

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Paper Title 4

Inscribing Oneself in the Christian Universe: Strategies of Self-Characterization in Religious Texts from the Late Middle Ages

Presenter 4 Name

Verena Linder-Spohn (Gründler Travel Award Winner)

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Albert-Ludwigs-Univ. Freiburg

Start Date

12-5-2017 1:30 PM

Session Location

Sangren 1710

Description

This session sets out to explore how Latin and German vernacular texts from the 12th to the 14th century "talk" about "other" medieval texts. The papers will take a look at the terminology, agendas and con-texts in which medieval texts classify each other, if and if yes how, categories like genre, audience, intention, language et al., which could be used to create otherness, are being perceived, presented and appraised. Is it at all possible to grasp a sense of alterity in those texts? Which lines are being drawn as signifiers for "otherness"? Which textual and literary in- and out-groups emerge? Which relational identities are constructed? Christoph Pretzer