Urgent Request for Speakers:
Session: The Function of Memory in Italian Art
Conference: 33rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo,
Michigan, May 7-10, 1998
Organizers: Roger Crum, Mary Gibbons, George Bent
Description: Recent scholarship across the disciplines has focused on the
importance of memory in Medieval and Renaissance society. Ecclesiastics
and scholars often relied on mnemonic techniques to store and recall
lengthy passages from liturgical, theological, and classical texts. which were
approprated, adapted, and applied to practical effect. Political regimes
also cultivated a controlled remembrance or nostalgia for the past in an
effort to remind their subjects of both the positive features of a current
government and the negative ramifications of embracing any present or
former alternative. The living invoked memories of the dead in order to
honor them, to hold them up
as exempla, to proclaim familial links to exalted ancestors and to
castigate their enemies in a manner of damnatio memoriae. This session
encourages papers that address the ways in which works of art and
architecture were used to spark viewers' memories during the Medieval and
Early Modern period in Italy. Papers may examine the uses of images as
bearers of propagandistic message, their
function as reminders of personal achievement, or their manipulation as
mnemonic devices for people in need of memorization tools.
Please send abstracts (or suggestions) ASAP to Roger Crum
([log in to unmask]). Decisions regarding this session need to be made
before October 8.
Many thanks for your assistance and interest.
Roger Crum
Dept. of Visual Arts
University of Dayton
Dayton, Ohio
45469-1690
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