CFP: Visualizing Ovid in the Middle Ages

The Societas Ovidiana is soliciting abstracts for 15-20 minute papers to be presented at the 50th International Congress for Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI from May 14-17, 2015. This year we are sponsoring two sessions on the single theme “Visualizing Ovid in the Middle Ages.”

While scholarship on medieval Ovidian reception has focused primarily on the textual reception of the poet's works in various medieval literary cultures, Ovid's influence far exceeded the written word. Whether in manuscript illumination, tapestry, ceramics, sculpture, theatre, or even imaginative ekphrasis in prose and verse adaptations and translations, Ovidian scenes of myth, love, and exile were presented before the eyes of innumerable medieval spectators. For the 50th Congress, the Societas Ovidiana is excited to sponsor two unique, interdisciplinary panels, which will explore how Ovid's poetry was interpreted into the manifold visual cultures of the Middle Ages.

We are hoping to bring together scholars from the fields of art history, literature, theatre, and archaeology to showcase the rich and multiform images of the Medieval Ovid. And to lend coherence to the resulting discussion period, we are encouraging presenters to consider either (1) to what extent visual representations of Ovidiana in the Middle Ages coincided with the dominant interpretative frameworks identified by recent scholarship on medieval commentaries and translations of Ovid's works, or (2) whether these visualized conceptions represent completely separate, and perhaps even more pervasive, interpretations of his poems.

Please send proposals of 300-500 words with a working title and department affiliation by September 15, 2014. Participants will be contacted shortly thereafter regarding whether or not their proposals have been accepted. All proposals which are received but not accepted will be sent on to the Congress’ general committee for consideration in one of the general sessions. 

Submissions should be sent to:

Morris Tichenor
Centre for Medieval Studies
University of Toronto
m.tichenor@utoronto.ca

The Societas Ovidiana are a loosely-affiliated group who meet once a year at Kalamazoo to provide a forum for interdisciplinary discussion of the influence of classical authors, especially Ovid, during the Middle Ages.

49th International Congress on Medieval Studies

The Societas Ovidiana is proud to present what promise to be two outstanding panels to start off the 2014 Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo:

Ovid in the Classroom: Session 23 (Thursday, May 8th, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. in Schneider 1225)

Presider: Emily Blakelock, Univ. of Toronto

Baudri of Bourgeuil and Loire Valley Ovidianism
     Susannah Brower, Univ. of Toronto
Teaching Ovid at the Benedictine Abbey of Tegernsee through the Twelfth-Century 
Accessus ad Auctores in MS Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 19475
     Stephen Wheeler, Pennsylvania State Univ.
The Ethics of Love: Student Readership of Ovid's Heroides
     Natasha Amendola, Monash Univ.


Ovid in the Courts: Session 68 (Thursday, May 8th, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. in Schneider 1225)

Presider: Christopher Berard, Univ. of Toronto

Exemplary Ovid: Models of Courtly Conduct in Alfonso X's General estoria
     Erik Ekman, Oklahoma State Univ.
Metamorphoses of Myth in Albrecht von Halberstadt's Medieval Adaptation
     Anna Cappellotto, Univ. degli Studi di Verona
Recasting Eurydice in Sir Orfeo
     Erica Machulak, Univ. of Notre Dame
Masculinity and Misrepresentation: Henrician Neo-Ovidianism and John Heywood's 
A Play of Love
     Maura Giles-Watson, Univ. of San Diego





Attendees at these panels will receive one of two limited edition pins, designed especially for this year's Congress.






We also invite anyone interested to attend the society's Annual Business Meeting which will be held in between the two panels in the same room, Schneider 1225. The actual business portion will be quite short: (1) appointing the society's President for next year and (2) planning a proposal for panels at the 2015 Congress. The real benefit of the meeting, however, is to continue the discussion from our first panel of papers and to allow for introductions before the second panel. We will be providing pizza and drinks since the meeting will take place during the Congress' lunch break.

Abstract

The Societas Ovidiana has proposed and administered panels at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan for the past fifteen years. The discussions that have resulted from our past panels have continuously engaged with and represented contemporary scholarly interests of both distinguished experts and younger, burgeoning scholars. The Societas' panels provide a forum unique in the Congress as a gathering place for those interested in classical reception during the Middle Ages.