The Dynamics of the Medieval Manuscript is a cross-European research project which studies the textual, structural and social dynamics of late-medieval multi-text manuscripts (13th-15th centuries), focusing on the highly mobile short verse narratives they contain. A conference devoted to this topic will take place in Utrecht, 25-28 April, 2013. The organizing committee cordially invites proposals for papers (twenty minutes) on late-medieval multi-text codices from across Western Europe.
Possible research questions include:
• Which principles of organization govern miscellanies?
• How does the power of authorization (naming of authors, author attribution) function in the transmission and reception of collections, and how do (re)contextualization and textual transmission create an author?
• What is the importance of multilingual collections for the formation and analysis of culture?
• How do the different types of book production (workshops, fascicular production) impact on the creation of (and changes in) meaning?
• How do the different contexts in which short verse narratives find themselves impact upon their contemporary reception and challenge our view of medieval generic categories?
A volume of Conference Proceedings is anticipated.
Proposals for papers (200 words, in English, French or German) should reach the committee by 1 August, 2012, by e-mail addressed to Ms. Vera Westra: s.v.westra@uu.nl.
Organizing committee:
Bart Besamusca (Utrecht University)
Matthias Meyer (University of Vienna)
Karen Pratt (King’s College London)
Ad Putter (University of Bristol)
