CONGRESS CANCELED Medieval Proverbs I: Afterlives
Description
The high-functioning proverb is a social creature: its recognizability makes believable an imagined fictional community, facilitating access to the privileged script of fantasy. The medieval proverb always crossed and complexified historical, cultural, and linguistic boundaries: the Proverbs of Alfred vocalize the long-dead king, and medieval romance anchors its wild itinerary to proverbial forms. In our times, Tolkien animates the Shire through faux adages, as does fantasist J.K. Rowling. This panel queries the dynamic social functions of proverbs: their cultural and linguistic code-switching, the entangling of attested with invented maxims, and the credibility proverbs create in medieval and post-medieval fantasy realms. Sarah M. Anderson
CONGRESS CANCELED Medieval Proverbs I: Afterlives
Schneider 1325
The high-functioning proverb is a social creature: its recognizability makes believable an imagined fictional community, facilitating access to the privileged script of fantasy. The medieval proverb always crossed and complexified historical, cultural, and linguistic boundaries: the Proverbs of Alfred vocalize the long-dead king, and medieval romance anchors its wild itinerary to proverbial forms. In our times, Tolkien animates the Shire through faux adages, as does fantasist J.K. Rowling. This panel queries the dynamic social functions of proverbs: their cultural and linguistic code-switching, the entangling of attested with invented maxims, and the credibility proverbs create in medieval and post-medieval fantasy realms. Sarah M. Anderson