CALL FOR PAPERS
the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan,
1997
Session title: Animals and Animal Symbolism and their Impact on Medieval
(Literary) Culture
For the second time the Research Centre for Classical, Oriental,
Medieval and Renaissance Studies (COMERS) at the University of Groningen
(Netherlands) will be sponsoring a session on Mediaeval animal
symbolism. This is an open session and you do not need to be associated
with
COMERS in any way to participate in it. Anyone interested in presenting
a paper on any of the areas mentioned in the session title or below is
hereby invited to submit an abstract to the organiser of the session
_before 15 September_ at the following e-mail address: [log in to unmask]
Session Description/Rationale:
In the past five to ten years animal symbolism in general and the
influence of the bestiaries in particular has generated much attention,
as
the many articles in scholarly journals and both popular and scholarly
books on animal symbolism and the bestiaries demonstrate. Some recent
publications include Scheibe's _Catalogue of Amphibians and Reptiles in
Older Scots Literature_ (1996), Hassig's new literary/iconographic
study of some English Latin bestiaries (1995); Salisbury's _The Beast
Within_, Ziolkowski's _Talking Animals_ (1993); Willene B. Clark's
edition of Hugo de Folieto's _Aviarium_ (1992); Clark and McMunn's
collection of articles on animal symbolism of 1989, and new editions of
such Italian-Latin bestiaries as the _Libellus de natura animalium_ and
the _Bestiario Valdese_ by Raugei & Celli (1980s), etc.
Much work, however, still needs to be done. Some of the areas which
still require attention are the following: 1. The medieval commentary
tradition and its effect on animal symbolism: scriptural allegory,
poetic fiction and truth; 2. Animals and etymology: role and function of
etymologies with respect to medieval animal symbolism (Ambrose, Rabanus
Maurus, Isidore, encyclopaedic tradition); 3. The allegorical and
anagogical function of animals in the bestiaries and the Physiologus and
the theoretical implications for and impact on medieval literature;
4. Animal symbolism and genre: the role and function of animals in
different literary genres. 5. The distinctions, if any, between secular
and religious animal symbolism; 6. The influence on religious animal
symbolism of popular religion.
This session will attempt to shed some light on at least some of these
topics.
Luuk Houwen
Dept of English
University of Groningen
NB. cross-posted from Medtext
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