I’ve moved to:

http://metametamedieval.wordpress.com

and the professional / research stuff that was here is now there (c/o “about”).

I’m also using this site to store backup copies of other blogging output. These will be being disappeared from public view shortly. In the meantime, my apologies if you encounter duplicates of FMRSI posts …

back to the top

[This site and its contents © Juliet O'Brien. Previous post-Princetonian incarnations carefully hand-crafted using open source software (BBEdit and KompoZer) and Photoshop. Original pre-doctored image from photo-i; doctoring by JO'B]

I should also point out thay the Bibliothèque Nationale de France have RADICALLY OVERHAULED the Gallica website (digitised documents): and are adding more, at a rapid rate. Here, for example, is nearly all of the journal Romania: Recueil trimestriel consacré à l’étude des langues et des littératures romanes (1872 onwards) – a joy and a delight, and alas the most marvellous earliest volumes are not available in Irish libraries. 10 (1881) and 12 (1883) are heartily recommended to anyone interested in what GP himself actually says about l’amour courtois, as it’s at times quite hilarious to see how badly he has been misread and misrepresented.

This is an important topic, as GP exemplifies the need to read attentively and accurately; and to reread *properly*, reassess, and rehabilitate in a contextually-sensitive manner. Admin’s scholarly training having been by three notable persons of the very good and hard-nosed school of thought; and Admin being the sort of person who tries to read as much as humanly possible, going back to original primary texts (and back in secondary criticism as far back as it goes), and never ever ever trusting someone else’s view / opinion / judgement / reading. Ever. Whoever they are and whatever sort of Name they might be supposed to be. After all, ad auctoritatem is surely the lowest form of informal fallacy … and insofar as Admin ever falls into it, it is in attending to Aristotle, who happens to have very fine and useful (and, I think, true) things to say on the subject in its intersecting application to rhetoric, ethics, and politics.

Admin gets cross when faced with half-baked second-rate reading, research, and thinking based on a sketchy lazy skim of someone else’s stuff (and has had her fill of such recently, naming no names at a certain recent conference). Admin gets very cross indeed when the result of such a sorry excuse for scholarship is a perpetuation and compending of errors: ignorance, laziness, arrogance, and pretension being a well-documented lethal mix. 19th c. philology has suffered particularly badly, Paris (père et fils), Bédier, Meyer et al being remarkably prolific readers, editors, and writers; thus an easy target for those lazy snippers of soundbites, incapable and/or incompetent, and certainly not up to reading all these splendid scholars’ own output, let alone the texts on which they were working (let alone the manuscripts, but that’s another story: Come The Revolution, these will all be available for free, digitised, online; and there will be no more reason – let alone excuse – for shoddy work). Such attitudes are perfectly natural and understandable: stemming from fear, a grudging awareness of one’s own limitations but refusal to confront them, jealousy, envy – human, all too human.

We are living in interesting times in more ways than one; after the Death of Theory (verily and forsooth; and with apologies to those who’ve just started a Masters in Critical Theory: you’ve Been Had by the bandwagon-industry), we’re starting to look back over postwar trends in reading – literary criticism amalgamated with theory – to see what the historical patterns might be, and see where they might be going. My eye is on the following strands; my money would be on impending highly innovative and actually creative convergences, conflations, and conjointures (in the sans of Marie de France and Chrétien de Troyes):

• old-school conservative philology and its continuation into electronic philology/digital medievalism
• New Philology, especially a po-mo knowing self-placement into a long-term, long-distance exegetical continuity – from the Pre-Socratics to Derrida
• new modes of reading and writing, and their expansion with Web 2.0 (a.k.a. blogging, wikis, hyper things, etc.), and a democratisation spilling over into generalised democratisation of knowledge: the right to access information, combined with reading things oneself and making sense of them oneself. This is already a tricky business, and indeed there is a whole business in mediating and interpreting information. And there will always be lazy people, and the insecure and fearful who need authoritative guiding figures. Some historical parallel might be seen with the 1490s-1520s rough period, and links between early (evangelical/)Protestant/Catholic matters and the first European expansion of printing.
• gaming: and its connections to reading and imaginative leisure activities

For further reading and your greater delectation, here’s a bibliography on courtly love in medieval literature c/o Admin’s talk handout. This is not comprehensive, but should give some idea of the evolution of the debate. Of pertinence might be the English material and angle of approach, and the recent (1970s -) misfortune of the culturally colonialist appropriation of much of Medieval Europe by English departments, in Ireland and the UK. Thus, a second and maybe sort of more purely semantic sub-debate: can we talk about “medieval literature” as one single unified thing, given the geographical, cultural, and chronological divergence and diversity? 14th-15th c . English literature vs. 12th-13th c. Occitan and French vs. 13th-15th c. Catalan and Spanish; vs. 13th c. Italian vs. 14th c. Italian; 1150s-60s French vs. 1180s-90s vs. 1215-1229; and so forth and so on, ad inf.

Auerbach, Erich. Literary Language and its Publi in Late Latin Antiquity and in the Middle Ages. Trans. Ralph Mannheim. Princeton: Bollingen, 1965.
—. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. Trans. Willard R. Trask. Princeton: Princeton U.P., 1953.
Bähler, Ursula. Gaston Paris et la philology romane. Geneva: Droz, 2004.
Bezzola, Reto R. Les Origines et la formation de la littérature courtoise en Occident (500-1200). Paris: Champion, 1944-63.
Bloch, R. Howard. Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love. Chicago: Chicago UP, 1990.
Boase, R. The Origin and Meaning of Courtly Love. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977.
Camproux, Charles. Le “joy d’amour” du troubadour (jeu et joie d’amour). Montepellier: Causse et Castelnau, 1965.
Cheyette, Fredric L. Ermengard of Narbonne and the World of the Troubadours. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2001.
Cholakian, Rouben Charles. Troubadour Lyric: A Psychocritical Reading. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990.
Curtius, Ernst Robert. European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages. Trans. Willard R. Trask. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1953.
Denomy, Alexander Joseph. “An Enquiry into the Nature of Courtly Love.” Mediaeval Studies VI (1944): 175-260.
— The Heresy of Courtly Love. New York: MacMullen, 1947.
Donaldson, E. Talbot. “The Myth of Courtly Love.” Ventures 5 (1965): 16-23, republished in Speaking of Chaucer (London: Athlone, 1970): 154-63.
Duby, Georges. Medieval Marriage: Two Models from the Twelfth Century. Trans. Elborg Forster. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1978.
— Le Chevalier, la femme et le prêtre. Le mariage dans la France féodale. Paris: Hachette, 1981.
Ferrante, Joan M. “Cortes’ Amor in Medieval Texts.” Speculum 55 (1980): 695.
Frappier. Jean. Amour courtois et table ronde. Geneva: Droz, 1973.
Huchet, Jean-Charles. Littérature médiévale et psychanalyse: pour une clinique littéraire. Paris: P.U.F., 1990.
Kay, Sarah. “Courts, Clerks, and Courtly Love.” In The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance. Ed. Roberta L. Krueger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000: 81-96.
Köhler, Erich. Trobador Lyrik und Höfischer Roman. Berlin: Rütter und Loening,1962.
Kristeva, Julia. “Les Troubadours: du ‘grand chant courtois’ au récit allégorique.” In Histoires d’amour. Paris: Denoël, 1983: 263-76.
Lacan, Jacques. “L’Amour courtois en anamorphose.” In Le Séminaire de Jacques Lacan. Livre VII: L’Éthique de la psychanalyse, 1959-60. Texte établi par Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Le Seuil, 1986: 167-84.
Lazar, Moshé. Amour courtois et “fin’amors” dans la littérature du XIIe siècle. Paris: Klincksieck, 1964.
Le Goff, Jacques. La Civilisation de l’Occident médiéval. Paris: Arthaud, 1964.
— Pour un autre Moyen Âge: temps, travail et culture en Occident. Paris: Gallimard, 1977.
Le Goff, Jacques, Roger Chartier, and Jacques Revel, eds. La Nouvelle histoire. Paris: C.E.P.L., 1978.
Lewis, Clive Staples. The Allegory of Love. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1936.
Nelli, René. L’Érotique des troubadours. Toulouse: Privat, 1963.
Newman, F.X., ed., The Meaning of Courtly Love: Papers of the First Annual Conference of the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton. March 17-18, 1967. Albany:  SUNY P, 1968.
O’Brien, Juliet. “Contexts poetic and erotic: trobar amor clusa e cortesa.” Ch. 1 in “Trobar Cor(s): Erotics and Poetics in Flamenca.” Ph.D. diss., Princeton U, 2006: 27-143.
— “Reading (and) Courtly Love in Flamenca, via the Charrette.” In Dame Philology’s Charrette: Approaching Medieval Textuality through Chrétien’s Lancelot, Essays in Memory of Karl D. Uitti. Ed. Gina Greco and Ellen Thorington. Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS) at Arizona State University, 2009.
Paris, Gaston. “Études sur les romans de la Table Ronde: Lancelot.” Romania 12 (1883): 459-
534. Online at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k16021k.r=.langfr
Robertson, D.W. Jr. “Some Medieval Doctrines of Love.” In A Preface to Chaucer. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1962: 391-503.
— “The Concept of Courtly Love as an Impediment to the Understanding of Medieval Texts.” In Newman 1968: 1-18.
Rougemont, Denis de. L’Amour et l’Occident. Paris: Plon, 1972; rev. of 1939 ed.
Uitti, Karl D. “Remarks on Old French Narrative: Courtly Love and Poetic Form (I).” Romance Philology 26 (1972): 92.
Žižek, Slavoj. “Courtly Love, or Woman as Thing.” In The Metastases of Enjoyment. London: Verso, 1994: 148-73.

Gaston Paris – Joseph Bédier. Correspondance
éd. Ursula Bähler et Alain Corbellari
Pub: del Galluzo, Florence.

Admin is very excited about this, having just (8 April, Maynooth Medieval and Renaissance Forum) done a talk inc. a first section on Gaston Paris. Said MMRF talk involved a previous work by UB, herewith recommended most thoroughly:

Gaston Paris et la philologie romane
Ursula Bähler
Geneva: Droz, 2004.

Also, a recommendation from a member of the audience (Dr Andrea Robiglio, of the Philosophisches Seminar, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg): Collège de France conference proceedings:

Le Moyen Âge de Gaston Paris
ed. Michel Zink
Paris: Odile Jacob, 2004

French Studies in Scotland

“Instruments”

20-22 November 2009

The Burn, Glenesk, Brechin

Call for Papers

Proposals are invited for the French Studies in Scotland conference (widely known as the Burn Conference) which will be held on 20-22 November 2009. This year’s conference will deal with the theme of Instruments, to be interpreted as widely as possible within any area of French and Francophone Studies, from medieval to 21^st-century literature, literary theory, linguistics and language studies, film, the visual arts, society and culture. Some suggestions for panels might include the following:

- Musical instruments, from medieval chansonniers and troubadours, the lyre of Orpheus and the Romantic poets to Laforgue’s orgue de barbarie and pianos de banlieue, including military brass bands, gypsy musicians, the cathedral organ, the orchestra. What roles do musical instruments play in literary texts? How do the instruments interact with language and narrative?

- Technique vs inspiration, and the aeolian harp. How do authors use the figure of the instrument, or the compositional tool of their art form, from the pen and the quill to the brush, canvas, camera or chisel, in order to explore the relationship between inspiration and craftsmanship, form and idea, cultural artefact and the ideal?

- Measuring instruments, map-making, navigation, discovery and the urge to make sense of the world, to possess it by understanding.

- Instruments of torture.

- Questions of orchestration, harmony and discord; the relationships between the part and the whole; what are the conditions for harmony?

- Instruments, culture and technology. Practical and theoretical problems on the relationship between man and machine.

- The notion of instrumentalising the other in various domains (political, sociological, philosophical).

The conference takes place in a beautiful country house near Edzell (Tayside). Further details can be found at:

http://www.goodenough.ac.uk/the_burn.html?&no_cache=1&sword_list[]=burn

The atmosphere of the event is informal and congenial, and Saturday afternoon, as ever, will be free for walks and talks. As in previous years, the organisers are keen to encourage contributions from newly appointed colleagues and post-graduate students.

Please send proposals (250-300 words) for papers of approx. 20 minutes, to be given in English or French, and/or indication of interest in attendance to Dr Élise Hugueny-Léger or Dr David Evans by 1 July 2009 .

Dr Élise Hugueny-Léger (esmh@st-and.ac.uk)

Dr David Evans (dee3@st-and.ac.uk)

School of Modern Languages

University of St Andrews

Buchanan Building

Union Street

St Andrews

FIFE

KY16 9AJ

The Harvard Celtic Department cordially invites proposals for papers
on topics which relate directly to Celtic studies (Celtic languages
and literatures in any phase; cultural, historical or social science
topics; theoretical perspectives, etc.) for their 29th Annual Celtic
Colloquium, to take place at Harvard University, October 9-11, 2009.
Papers concerning interdisciplinary research with a Celtic focus are
also invited. Attendance is free.

Presentations should be no longer than twenty minutes. There will be
a short discussion period after each paper. Papers given at the
Colloquium may later be submitted for consideration by the editorial
committee for publication in the Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic
Colloquium.

Potential presenters should send a 200-250 word abstract, plus a
brief biographical sketch. We encourage online responses, but
submissions may also be sent by e-mail to hcc@fas.harvard.edu, faxed,
or posted to the departmental address.

Further information and online submission form available at our
Website: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hcc/

Closing date for proposals: May 15, 2009.

Roanoke College (VA, United States)
Assistant Professor
Ancient/Medieval History
http://h-net.org/jobs/display_job.php?jobID=38533

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART (NY, United States)
Assistant or Associate Curator
Department of Islamic Art.
http://h-net.org/jobs/display_job.php?jobID=38521

15 APRIL 2009
Bard Graduate Center (NY, United States)
Media Lab Instructor
(digital humanities – “Ph.D in a humanities field and certification in interactive technology is required.”)
http://h-net.org/jobs/display_job.php?jobID=38544

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in the History of the Americas, C1400-C1750
College of Arts, Humanities and Education, School of Arts and Humanities
Nottingham Trent University
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/JV704/

17 APRIL 2009
Visiting Lecturer in Spanish
University of Buckingham
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/QU089/

Full-Time Permanent Lecturer in French
University of Buckingham
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/QU088/

19 APRIL 2009
Assistant Professor of New Media and Digital Culture
University of Amsterdam
Association of Universities in The Netherlands – VSNU
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/XF244/

23 APRIL 2009
Brown University (RI, United States)
Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Early Modern Jewish History, 2009-10
http://h-net.org/jobs/display_job.php?jobID=38518

24 APRIL 2009
Junior Lecturer in English – multiannual
Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
University of Limerick
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/JV793/

26 APRIL 2009
Development Officer, Christianity and Culture Project
Centre for Medieval Studies
University of York
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/JV777/

28 APRIL 2009
Lectureship in Medical History – Fixed Term
The School of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Exeter
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/ZL867/

30 APRIL 2009
Research Assistant
Early Islam
The Institute of Ismaili Studies
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/QU086/

Research Assistant / Cynorthwyydd Ymchwil
AHRC Project: Seals in Medieval Wales (SiMeW)/Prosiect AHRC: Seliau yng Nghymru’r Oesoedd Canol
Department of History and Welsh History/Adran Hanes a Hanes Cymru
Aberystwyth University
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/SN953/

Lecturer in Literature and Translation
School of Literature and Creative Writing
University of East Anglia
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/SN978/

1 MAY 2009
Temporary Lecturer in Medieval History
Roman Origins of the East and West, c. 300-700
School of History and Anthropology
Queen’s University Belfast
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/TR790/

Binghamton University, SUNY (NY, United States)
Medieval European History
One-year visiting assistant professorship
http://h-net.org/jobs/display_job.php?jobID=38538

Art Research and Instruction Librarian
University of Colorado at Boulder (Colorado)

15 MAY 2009
Leverhulme Research Fellowships
Judaism
Faculty Of Oriental Studies
University of Oxford
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/RP418/

Six-hour Stipendiary Lecturership in Medieval History
Balliol and Brasenose Colleges
Balliol College
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/JV895/

18 MAY 2009
2009 Philip Leverhulme Prizes
Modern European Languages and Literature
Leverhulme Trust
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/JV820/

30 JUNE 2009
University of New Brunswick  – Fredericton (NB, Canada)
Post Docotoral Fellow
War and Society
http://h-net.org/jobs/display_job.php?jobID=38529