CFP: Magic and the Occult in Medieval Literature
Special Session
41st International Congress of Medieval Studies
Kalamazoo, MI
May 4-7, 2006

I would like to invite submissions for a special session on the role
of Magic and the Occult in Medieval Literature. Medieval discourse on
magic and the occult can be seen to mingle Western and Eastern
cultures, religion and science, folk beliefs and educated theories,
not to mention the conventions of fiction with the realities of
mundane life. Yet, since Simon Magus and the Early Church, notions of
magic have played a role in how medieval Christendom established or
blurred boundaries between Self and Other, the sacred and the profane
(or diabolical), the authentic and the illusory. This panel will
investigate how the concept of magic was used in medieval literature
to negotiate identity, establish authority or dream new futures.

Some topics for consideration could include:
-gender/race/sexuality and the supernatural in medieval romance
-the relationship between the theories of the occult and medieval
heresies
-witches in medieval literature
-the alchemist in medieval literature
-magic and the Other (Jews, Muslims, colonized Irish, etc)
-spiritual warfare and magic in saints' lives or missionary accounts
-the charlatan
-magic and madness
-magic as metaphor for the artistic imagination
-magic and the Crusades
-the Templars in medieval literature
-magic vs. miracle: licit and illicit magic
-magic as an aspect of oral or textual traditions

Please submit a 200 word abstract, along with a completed Medieval
Institute Abstract Cover Sheet (see the forms on the 41st Congress
homepage), no later than September 13th, 2005. Abstracts may be
submitted by mail or fax to the address below, or, as an electronic
attachment in the form of a MS Word Document to cneufeld_at_emich.edu.

Dr. Christine Neufeld
Assistant Prof., Dept. of English
Eastern Michigan University
613D Pray-Harrold Bldg.
Ypsilanti, MI, 48197
Fax: 734-483-9744

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Received on Fri Jul 29 2005 - 08:38:07 EDT