CFP: Literary Renovations in Middle English Texts (9/10/05; Kalamazoo, 5/4/06-5/7/06)
41st International Congress on Medieval Studies
Kalamazoo, MI
May 4-7, 2006
CALL FOR PAPERS
"Literary Renovations in Middle English Texts: The Old Made New?"
James Simpson's new literary history, Reform and Cultural Revolution (Oxford,
2004), redefines the conventional periodic boundaries along the lines of
cultural practice. The 'medieval' period emerges as a culture of 'reform'
against the 'revolutionary' tendencies of the 'Renaissance' or 'early modern'
period. "Each deals differently with artefacts and buildings of the past,"
Simpson explains. "[T]he revolutionary model works by iconoclasm and
demolition, while the reformist model operates by accretive bricolage" (35).