__

As the critical re-assessment of the medieval/early-modern divide is
gaining pace, the resilience and pliancy of existing conceptual models
of the natural world and humankind's relation to it will be put to a
test. Novel lines of inquiry into the changing modalities of reading the
Bible raise questions about how God's "other book" was received: to what
extent were late-medieval readings of the natural world - as the Book of
Nature - subjected to the new hermeneutics of reading Scripture? Does
the apparent compatibility of verisimilitude in art with traditional
allegory yield insights into the changing perception of the natural
world? How do map-making and the nascent discipline of cartography
address the relationship of humankind with nature?

To facilitate a conversation of ideas, we would welcome papers that
pursue these and other questions across and beyond the fields of
literary studies, art history, cartography, and history. Scholars
engaged in research on any of the above-mentioned topics are invited to
present a paper.

Papers will be 20 minutes long. The proceedings of the conference will
be published; the organisers reserve the right to select papers for
publication. The deadline for submitting abstracts is 31 December 2006.
Abstracts, not exceeding 300 words, should be addressed to: Maik Goth,
Sebastian Sobecki, or Luuk Houwen, Chair of Medieval English Language
and Literature, at: book-of-nature-2007_at_rub.de

Please provide a working title for your proposed paper, contact details,
and your institutional affiliation.

The venue for the two-day conference will be the historical town of
Hattingen (Stadtmuseum at Blankenstein). Situated between two castles,
Hattingen possesses more than 140 half-timbered houses and is one of the
best-preserved late-medieval towns in the West of Germany:
http://www.international.hattingen.de/uk/sights.htm

Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Geography and the Book of Nature Congress
Department of English
Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum
Universitaetsstr. 150
44780 Bochum
Germany
Phone: +49 234 32 28 518
Fax: +49 (0)234 32 14 746
www.es.ruhr-uni-bochum.de

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Received on Wed Aug 16 2006 - 19:57:21 EDT