Truth and Treason in Middle English Literature

In light of recent work on the semantic and legal ramifications of "truth"
and "tresoun" in late medieval England, particularly Richard Firth Green's
A Crisis of Truth and Lynn Staley's Languages of Power in the Reign of
Richard II, this panel proposes to revisit the contextual embeddedness of
these concepts in Middle English literature. How do different medieval
genres represent the personal and political discourses of truth and
treason? How does historiography offer a way for understanding the
contextual necessity of defining these terms? How might historiographical
perspectives on treason revise our reading of its depiction in medieval
literature? Might the treasonous nature of an action in its immediate
context be reconsidered within the long durée of history? By what
processes do individual agents, authors, and institutions negotiate
divergent notions of proper action with regard to the nation?

Please send abstracts by September 1 to Tim Arner (tda121_at_psu.edu) and
Wolfram Keller (kellerw_at_staff.uni-marburg.de).

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Received on Mon Aug 06 2007 - 12:33:11 EDT