Proposals are invited for presentations on early modern rogue books, cony-catching pamphlets, trickster tales, and other texts in which vagrants are central. The very real presence of rogues, vagabonds, and 'sturdy beggars' in early modern Europe had a profound cultural impact. Fictional and non-fictional representations of these marginal figures show that they provided a focal point for important questions about social hierarchy and the construction and basis of social position.

Proposals are requested on the theoretical significance of what William Carroll calls the "discourse of poverty," both in literary and in historical texts (court cases, prose pamphlets on vagrancy and prostitution, legislation for the poor). Work on vagrancy and gender and interdisciplinary approaches are especially welcome.

Please e-mail an abstract and a brief curriculum vitae to Martine van Elk at mvanelk@csulb.edu as soon as possible, but no later than April 28, 2001.

This session will be sponsored by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at California State University, Long Beach