Interpretative Impasses and the Pearl-Poet

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Medieval Association of the Midwest (MAM)

Organizer Name

Mickey Sweeney

Organizer Affiliation

Dominican Univ.

Presider Name

David Sprunger

Presider Affiliation

Concordia College

Paper Title 1

Cleanness and that Lost Shaker of Salt

Presenter 1 Name

Jamie C. Fumo

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Florida State Univ.

Paper Title 2

Material Mistakes: Reinterpreting Impasse in Pearl

Presenter 2 Name

Chris Klippenstein

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Columbia Univ.

Paper Title 3

Critical Quagmires in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Presenter 3 Name

Mickey Sweeney

Start Date

11-5-2019 1:30 PM

Session Location

Schneider 1340

Description

Complex, multivalent poems like "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" capture the imagination of audiences, but it seems the more assertively critics declare a "problem solved" regarding such complex moments as the viability of Gawain's first confession scene, the symbolic nature of the exchange of kisses, or even something as fundamental as the dates of the poems, the more evident it becomes that other interpretations are possible. This panel will invite critical readings of any of the Pearl poet's poems with an aim to explore what multiple readings of "quagmire moments" in the text both reveal and muddy for readers. Mickey Sweeney