Gower Reads the Classics

Sponsoring Organization(s)

John Gower Society

Organizer Name

Brian Gastle

Organizer Affiliation

Western Carolina Univ.

Presider Name

Ana Sáez-Hidalgo

Presider Affiliation

Univ. de Valladolid

Paper Title 1

"To Sette a King in Even": Alcestis and the Emergence of Political Discourse

Presenter 1 Name

William Driscoll

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Univ. of Oregon

Paper Title 2

Gower's Ovide Moralisé?

Presenter 2 Name

R. F. Yeager

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Univ. of West Florida

Paper Title 3

Gower, Ancient and Modern

Presenter 3 Name

David R. Carlson

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Ottawa

Start Date

9-5-2019 1:30 PM

Session Location

Sangren 1740

Description

John Gower's debts to the Latin classics have been long acknowledged. His intimate familiarity with Ovid's works has been many times demonstrated. Less well examined are his borrowings from other ancient sources, either in their original form, or received by him through medieval filters: the example of the Ovide Moralisé comes to mind. Gower’s use of the Latin Classics, as Andrew Galloway notes in the recent Routledge Research Companion to John Gower, exemplifies his “participation in a pan-European contemporary fascination with using Antiquity.” This session intends to bring such streams of classical influence into sharper focus by returning attention to Gower’s classical reading: what did he know, where did he find it, how, subsequently, did he turn what he read to use in his work? Brian Gastle