medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Preternature 2.1
Weird Tools and Strange Investigations
Objects of all sorts have a long history ofserving as bridges to the preternatural world, whether that be in terms of someintrinsic power, or as things possessed or haunted. The shaman’s beads, thesaint’s bones, the astrologer’s charts, the conjurer’s circle, the scryer’sstone, the spiritualists’ crystal ball, tarot cards, Ouija boards and even holybooks, all might be used in particular contexts as instruments to experience orinvestigate the world beyond the natural either directly or vicariously. By thesame token, these objects might also be imbued with uncanny power in their ownright. For those who employed them, such objects helped communicate withethereal beings or harness their power to worldly ends. But it is also clearfrom the narratives constructed around them that this was a double-edged sword,for haunted or possessed objects could prove difficult to control, evendangerous, coming eventually to wield power over the user.
This issue of Preternature invites contributionsthat explore the relationship between objects, users and the preternaturalworld. How were objects construed? In what social, political and culturalcontexts were they deployed, and how did the ways they were used help constructexperience? How were these instruments related to crucial issues of proof andpersuasion?
Abstracts of 500 words are due July 15, 2011;final papers will be due September 15, 2011. Contributions should usually be8,000 - 12,000 words, including all documentation and critical apparatus. Ifaccepted for publication, manuscripts will be required to adhere to the ChicagoManual of Style, 15th edition (style 1, employing footnotes).
Preternature also welcomes original editions ortranslations of texts related to the topic that have not otherwise been madeavailable in recent editions or in English.
Queries about submissions, queries concerning books to bereviewed, or requests to review individual titles may be made to the Editors:
Peter Dendle: [log in to unmask]
Department of English,
The Pennsylvania State University (Mont Alto)
Kirsten C. Uszkalo: [log in to unmask]
Department of English
Simon Fraser University
Inquiries about book reviews should be sent to:
Richard Raiswell: [log in to unmask]
Department of History
University of Prince Edward Island
Richard Raiswell
Dept. of History, Univ. of PEI
Fellow,
Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, Toronto
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