Original sender: Bryan P Davis <bdavis@MAGNUS.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU>
1996 NCS CONGRESS
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Program Committee for the Tenth International Congress, to
be held at the Sunset Village Conference Center in Los Angeles,
California (Friday, July 26 to Tuesday, July 30, 1996), announces
the following topics for sessions. Papers or proposals should be
sent directly to the organizer of each session, except as noted.
The session organizers must receive all papers or proposals by July
1, 1995. Organizers will select papers and participants by late
August 1995, and the names of participants and the titles of their
presentations will be announced in the Fall 1995 Chaucer
Newsletter.
The Committee has followed the lead of the 1992 and 1994
congresses in scheduling some of the same kinds of newer formats
and ground rules to encourage discussion and to elicit submissions
from throughout the membership. Members may apply to more than one
kind of session, but may actually participate in only one. The
constitution of the NCS mandates that participants (except for
invited speakers from other fields) be members with their dues paid
up; we ask you to share this announcement with graduate students,
younger colleagues, and others who may not now be members of the
NCS. We also urge you to inform colleagues outside of North
America and the U.K. of the Congress. (Students may join the
Society for two years at the student rate of $15 per year. They
should write to the New Chaucer Society for application forms. New
Chaucer Society; CMRS; Ohio State University; 230 West 17th Avenue;
Columbus, OH 43210; or bdavis@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
Organizers have provided a brief explanation of what they have
in mind, though sessions may change in response to submissions. In
some cases noted below submissions should be sent to the chair of
the Program Committee, who will forward submissions to the
organizers.
I. CONCURRENT PAPER SESSIONS
Concurrent Paper Sessions will contain three papers and no
respondents. Each paper normally will be limited to 15 minutes to
allow for 1/2 hour of discussion. Full drafts of papers are
expected by the end of February 1996, and will be circulated to
other speakers in the session.
1. Chaucer and Translation. The theory or practice of
translation/translatio as it affected Chaucer and his
contemporaries, including: the problematic of translation as
broached and explored in religious discourses, "orthodox" and
"Lollard" (translating the Bible, translation as Babel reversed,
etc.); Latin/French/English relationships and transactions (and
Chaucer's place in them); the idea of translatio studii as it
shapes 14c. English textual production; Chaucer's appropriations
from antecedent texts, Latin and vernacular; the politics of
"translating" Chaucer into the fifteenth century. R. W. Hanning,
English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, New York,
New York 10027. FAX: (212) 854-5398. Note: submissions to this
panel should be blind. Members should include their names and
addresses and phone numbers in an attached sealed envelope.
2. Polyphony and Polytextuality in Chaucer. Papers on the
relationship of Chaucer to late Ars Nova music, particularly those
treating simultaneous production of sounds (i.e., polyphony) and
words (i.e., polytextuality) and analogous artistic techniques in
Chaucer's poetry, are invited. Send abstracts to Robert Boenig,
English, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4227.
FAX: (409) 862-2292; e-mail: reb5335@venus.tamu.edu
3. Chaucer and Print Culture. A session on the publishing,
reading, criticism, and/or social and cultural uses of Chaucer in
the early history of the printed book. Particularly welcome will
be papers locating Chaucer in such broader issues as the
development of English Humanism, shifts in the notions of authorial
identity, the constructions of a canon of vernacular literature,
the makings of gentry and bourgeois readerships, structures of
patronage, the commercialization of the booktrade and the market
status of English poetry, etc. Seth Lerer, English, Stanford
University, Stanford, CA 94305-2087. FAX: (415) 725-0755.
4. Genders. This session will explore the relationships between
sex, gender, and sexuality in contemporary theory and/or medieval
culture as they relate to Chaucer and Chaucer studies. Papers on
feminist theory and practice and gender studies, gay and lesbian
criticism/queer theory and gender studies, medieval masculinities,
medieval medical definitions of gender and the history of
sexuality, cultural studies/gender studies are also invited. Glenn
Burger, English, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T6G 2E5. FAX: (403) 492-8142; e-mail: gburger@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca.
5. Chaucer and Romance. Papers are invited which explore
connections between the genre of romance and a variety of Chaucer's
texts. Studies may concentrate, e.g., on issues of
intertextuality, generic transformation, or broader questions of
cultural contextualization (such as studies of manuscript
anthologies which include Chaucerian 'romances'). Carol Meale,
English, University of Bristol, 3-5 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TB,
England. FAX: (0272) 288860.
6. Reading Dreams. An attempt to extend our understanding of the
cultural context for Chaucer's representation of dreams. Peter
Brown, Darwin College, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NY,
England. FAX: (0227) 475470; e-mail: P.Brown-2@ukc.ac.uk.
7. Chaucer in Stanzas. How does it matter to the reader of poetry
when Chaucer frames his 'matere' in stanzas, as against couplets or
prose? How does he make his stanza forms expressive? Any of his
stanzaic poems may be considered in the light of these and similar
questions. Howell Chickering, English, Amherst College, Amherst,
MA 01002. FAX: (413) 542-2141; e-mail: hdchickering@amherst.edu
8. Hoccleve. Any aspect of the life or work of one of Chaucer's
earliest disciples and promoters. Abstracts or papers to Larry
Scanlon, English, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-5054.
FAX: (908) 932-1150; e-mail: scanlon@zodiac.rutgers.edu
9. Chaucer and Celtic Culture. Welsh and Irish court culture,
politics, society, poetry--what we don't know about
multiculturalism in the British Isles. Lynn Staley, English,
Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 13346. FAX: (315) 824-7176; e-
mail: lstaley@center.colgate.edu
10. Thirteenth-Century Approaches to Chaucer: Revaluations,
Reclamations, Redirections. Papers in this session will try to win
through the over-emphasis on Chaucer and Chaucer's "originality" in
the study of Middle English in order to look closely at some of the
texts and textual sensibilities that a long Chaucerian shadow has
occluded. This session, as the pun of its title implies, will
offer revaluations of Chaucer's writing in the light of thirteenth-
century textual concerns as well as unexplored precedents for
Chaucer in this earlier period. Christopher Cannon, English, UCLA,
Los Angeles, CA 90024. FAX: (310) 206-5093; e-mail:
ibenbql@mvs.oac.ucla.edu
11. Dissent. Papers are invited that (1) consider Chaucer's work
in relation to various contemporary forms of resistance to the
powers that be in his world; (2) explore the appropriateness of the
notion of "dissent" as a category of cultural analysis for late
medieval England; (3) dissent from forms of orthodoxy currently
holding sway in Chaucer studies, especially those concerned with
passing political or moral judgment on Chaucer and/or on his
critics. In an effort to achieve a balance among different points
of view, the organizer hopes that papers that dissent from his own
attitude toward these issues will be forthcoming. Lee Patterson,
English, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520. FAX: (203) 432-
7066; e-mail: lee.patterson@yale.edu
12. Chaucer and Public Art. Chaucer is often discussed with
manuscript illuminations, but not with more popular, decorative,
and public art. This session invites papers on any form of public
art (wall paintings, stained glass, roof bosses, rood screens,
decorated rooms, painted signs, etc.), whether ecclesiastical or
secular, English or Continental. Comparative work is especially
encouraged. C. David Benson, English, University of Connecticut,
Storrs, CT 06269-1025. FAX: (203) 486-1530.
13. Chaucer and Langland. Focus of session: to compare the
discursive practices both in, and opened by, these two corpora of
contemporary poetry. Kinds of topics: representation of
writing/reading; discursive/social boundaries; textual suppression;
figuration of autobiography; deployment of contemporary drama,
ceremonial; exploitation of Chaucer and Langland traditions in the
fifteenth century. James Simpson, Girton College, Cambridge CB3
0JG, U.K. Tel: (0223) 338954; FAX: (0223) 338896.
14. Orality and Literacy in Chaucer. There seems to be general
agreement among Chaucerians that Chaucer's art combines in a unique
way elements of popular oral poetry and literary rhetoric. The
exact nature and extent of these different traditions and their
mutual interplay in Chaucer's work need further exploration,
especially in the light of recent scholarship on oral poetry and
the rhetoric of narrative. The way Chaucer makes use of the
storyteller's role and his rapport with the audience also offers
opportunities for further investigation. Dieter Mehl, Uckerather
Strasse 74, 53639 Koenigswinter, Germany. Tel: (02244) 1798; FAX:
(02244) 82994.
15. Foundational Moments: England. Every age creates, within
limits, its own image of Chaucer. The late nineteenth century saw
a strong surge of Chaucer scholarship and criticism in England.
That laid foundations which we now need to judge from our own
historical perspective. The work of Furnivall and the Chaucer
Society, Skeat and his great edition, the wide critical sweep of W.
P. Ker, are some of the high spots. A paper on Skeat has been
commissioned. Two further contributions on the period from
Furnivall to World War I are invited. Derek Brewer, Emmanuel
College, Cambridge CB2 3AP, U.K. FAX: (0223) 241104.
16. Foundational Moments: Europe and America. A session to
parallel "Foundational Moments: England," with attention to the
contributions of Chaucerians in Europe, especially Germany, and the
Americas, especially the schools of philologists following Child
and ten Brink, and themselves often schooled in Germany.
Kittredge, Koch, Root, Robinson, Lounsbury would be a few of the
prominent names. Papers on individuals or on the larger trends of
the period are welcome; a paper on Kittredge has been commissioned.
Stephen Barney, English, University of California, Irvine, CA
92715. FAX: (714) 824-2916; e-mail: sbarney@uci.edu
17. The Virgin Mary. This session will explore the cultural power
of images of the Virgin in the later Middle Ages. Papers should
address the appearance of the Virgin in Chaucer's poetry, but
should also address the wider cultural and/or theoretical
implications of those appearances. Comparative papers will be
welcome. Topics might include the Virgin's body: its rites of
passage, its beauty; the power of icons of the Virgin to construct
religious subjectivity; her role in the justification of war or the
preservation of peace; the question of her consent and its relation
to more explicitly political notions of "freedom"; what she meant
to different classes of society; her grief, and its relation to
constructions of loss in the later Middle Ages; historical and
locational changes in the scope and meaning of her powers. Louise
Fradenburg, English, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
93106. FAX: (805) 893-4622; e-mail: lfraden@humanitas.ucsb.edu
18. Spectacle. The uses and implications of ceremony, pageantry,
bodily display, tournament, and other public stagings in Chaucer's
and related works. John Fyler, English, Tufts University, Medford,
MA 02155. FAX: (617) 627-3606; e-mail: jfyler@emerald.tufts.edu
19. Chivalry and Violence. Chivalry has traditionally been seen
as a benevolent institution in the Middle Ages--channelling and
containing the aggressive and violent tendencies of the medieval
aristocracy--but recent historical work has revealed a darker side
to this picture. Papers are invited that address the question of
the interdependence of chivalry and violence in Chaucer's poetry.
Richard Firth Green, English, University of Western Ontario,
London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7. FAX: (519) 661-3640.
20. Chaucer and Money. The session will focus on Chaucer's
interest in commercial values, ranging from the intricacies of
credit, loans, and debt, to larger issues of markets and merchants,
wealth and poverty, abundance and want. John Fyler, English, Tufts
University, Medford, MA 02155. FAX: (617) 627-3606; e-mail:
jfyler@emerald.tufts.edu
21. 1396. This session invites papers concerned with the events of
600 years ago, and their relation to Chaucer's poetry. The most
notable are the battle of Nicopolis, and the marriage of Richard
II; but allowing for a certain approximation in dating, we would
also welcome abstracts concerning such topics as the completion of
Westminster Hall, the Wilton Diptych, and the Appellants. John
Fyler, English, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155. FAX: (617)
627-3606; e-mail: jfyler@emerald.tufts.edu
22. Women of the Court: Female Patronage and Power in England 1327-
1400. Who were the women in the courts of Edward III and Richard
II who offered patronage and/or exerted influence in social,
cultural and political affairs? This session invites papers from
literary critics and historians on such women and on the question
of how their lives and influence provided a context in which to
read late medieval English literature. Carolyn P. Collette,
English, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA 01075. FAX: (413)
538-2138; e-mail: ccollett@mhc.mtholyoke.edu
23. Public Space/Private Space in Late Medieval Culture. How can
we think about space as a source of social power in the late Middle
Ages in England? How can it be theorized and historicized in
relation to practices of festivity/ceremony and public life? How
is the organization, domination and appropriation of space a
central part of the transformations of material religious culture?
Sarah Beckwith, English, CL 526, University of Pittsburgh, PA
15260. Tel. (412) 624-6506.
24. Open Submissions: Completed Papers. The Program Committee
solicits completed papers on any Chaucerian topic, of no more than
12 pages in length. Our deadline, for this session alone, is
September 1, to allow for the submission of finished work. John
Fyler, English, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155. FAX: (617)
627-3606; e-mail: jfyler@emerald.tufts.edu
II. CONCURRENT COLLOQUIA
In order to allow for different kinds of sessions, more
discussion, and wider participation, each afternoon of the 1996
Congress will feature 2-hour colloquia. Each colloquium will have
a maximum of six participants and a presider; colloquia will vary
somewhat in format depending on the topic. In most cases, the
format would be that of a series of short position statements by
the participants, followed by round table and general discussion.
Organizers will strive to avoid converting colloquia into paper
sessions. Where it is absolutely necessary to have formal speakers
assigned in colloquia, they will be limited to a five-minute
statement or position paper. The distribution of papers by
panelists ahead of time to the members intending to attend these
sessions, either by mail, electronic mail or packets available at
the registration desk of the Congress, is encouraged. Common
suggested reading lists, either for panelists, audience or both,
are also encouraged.
Members wishing to participate as panelists should send
proposals or descriptions of their research to organizers listed
below.
1. Chaucer and the East. Proposals for this session might address
the ways in which writing in the age of Chaucer is influenced by or
represents non-European culture. Presentations that take
particular account of how increasing consciousness of "the East"
helps to specify and support European or specifically English
identities will be especially welcome. Thomas Hahn, English,
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627. FAX: (716) 442-5769;
e-mail: THHN@dbl.cc.rochester.edu
2. Teaching the Ending of Troilus and Criseyde. What are the
critical issues in coming to terms with the last 100 or so lines of
the Troilus? What do they tell us about Chaucer's understanding of
his project in the poem? Of the stage he has reached in his poetic
career? Of comedy and tragedy? Of his relation to literary
tradition? Winthrop Wetherbee, English, Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY 14853. FAX: (607) 255-6661; e-mail: ww22@cornell.edu
3. Teaching Beyond Chaucer's Text: Modern Poetry, Images, Critical
Essays, etc. A discussion concerning how teachers of Chaucer use
(or could use) contemporary poems, films/slides/art objects,
selected scholarly essays, music medieval or modern, and/or other
non-Chaucerian texts to illuminate Chaucer's own text and to engage
students in the ongoing conversation which Chaucer began in the
late 1380s. D. Thomas Hanks, Jr., P.O. Box 97421, Baylor
University, Waco, TX 76798-7421. FAX: (817) 755-1321; e-mail:
Tom_Hanks@Baylor.edu
4. Teaching Chaucer in Non-English-Speaking Countries. The aim of
the colloquium is to encourage a wide participation of Chaucerians
from Europe and the East in order to discuss the various issues
concerning the teaching of Chaucer and of medieval literature in
non-anglophone countries. Anna Torti, Via Giulia 49, 06038 Spello
(Perugia), Italy. FAX: 0742-301486.
5. Teaching the Man of Law's Tale. Each member of this colloquium
will present a 5 to 10 minute discussion of his/her approach to
teaching the "Man of Law's Tale." The panel will include as wide
a variety of perspectives as possible. Topics might include "The
Man of Law's Tale as a Religious Tale," "Gender Issues in the MLT,"
"Race in the MLT," "Law and the MLT," "What is the Genre of the
MLT," etc. Each participant will also provide a handout (e.g., a
specialized bibliography, a class plan, a list of key passages) for
discussion by the panel and the audience. Elizabeth Robertson,
English, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0226. FAX:
(303) 492-8904; e-mail: roberte@spot.colorado.edu
6. Manuscripts. Short reports on work in progress which relate to
MSS of Chaucer's writings or to MSS which have some more general
bearing on Chaucer's works. In the light of these reports, the
ensuing discussion might then isolate or highlight areas
(particular MSS, kinds of MSS, parts/aspects of MSS, or MS
collections) where further research could be revealing. Julia
Boffey, English, Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of
London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, England. FAX: (0181) 980-
6200; e-mail: j.boffey@qmw.ac.uk.
7. Chaucer and Cultural Studies. Do modern versions of Cultural
Studies provide new approaches to Chaucer's work? If so, can these
be used to reformulate the way "Chaucerians" look at Chaucer, in
terms of a CULTURE, and how we behave as a profession when we're
doing it, or are we doomed to a half-life of pallid imitation and
fashionable noises? David Lawton, English, University of Tasmania,
GOP Box 252C, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia. FAX: (002) 207631;
e-mail: d.a.lawton@english.utas.edu.au.
8. Chaucerian Crossdressing and Crossgendering: Theories, Texts,
Contexts. Questions of crossdressing and/or gender blurring that
bear upon Chaucer's writing and its late medieval social
environment. Papers that address these issues in relation to
political considerations, queer theory, current trends in Chaucer
scholarship, interpretation of specific texts, and the
historiography of gender and sexuality are all invited. Linda
Lomperis, Literature, Cowell College, University of California,
Santa Cruz, CA 95064. FAX: (408) 459-4880; e-mail:
linda_lomperis@macmail.uscs.edu
9. Chaucer and the Digital Revolution (or: From Print to
Digitization): Roundtable on the digital revolution's intellectual,
institutional, social, and pedagogical impacts on the study of
Chaucer. How is the discipline being reshaped, for good or for
ill? Conversely, what impacts on the profession at large may
result from the early digitization of our field? Mary Wack,
English, Avery Hall, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
99163-5020. FAX: (509) 335-2582.
10. Workshop on Reading Chaucer Out Loud. This is a workshop
devoted to the question of the reading of Chaucer out loud in class
and with students. Those interested in being one of three
"responding panelists" are urged to write the organizer, who will
begin the colloquium by working 75 minutes with a group of students
on matters of pronunciation, prosody, and interpretation. The
panelists (who will not be among "the
students") will be invited to remark on pedagogical issues, both
those connected to the workshop proceedings and those arising from
their own experience and interests. General discussion will
follow. Alan Gaylord, English, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
03755. FAX: (603) 646-2159; e-mail: alan.t.gaylord@dartmouth.
edu
III. SPECIAL GROUP SESSIONS
The Program Committee has set aside one hour on the first
afternoon of the Congress for small group discussions of very
narrowly defined, highly technical topics of Chaucerian
scholarship. The organizer will be responsible for structuring and
leading the discussion on the topic at issue; a few other
participants might also be listed in the program. Members
interested in organizing and leading small group discussions should
contact John Fyler, English, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155 as
soon as possible. FAX: (617) 627-3606; e-mail:
jfyler@emerald.tufts.edu
Congress Planning Committee:
John Fyler (Tufts University), Co-chair in charge of program planning; Edward
Condren (University of California, Los Angeles), Co-chair in charge of local
arrangements; Susan Crane (Rutgers University), Linda Georgianna (University of
California, Irvine), and R. F. Green (University of Western Ontario).