Medievalists, assemble!

[MedievalMadness]

I tend to shy away from Facebook. It's a bit too... public for me. But I do keep an eye on Babel through the In the Middle blog and the punctum crew. They published an awesome translation of Beowulf a couple summers ago! If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it. 

 

I started following their blog when I became interested in J.J. Cohen's work. And I was curious about Fradenburg's book too. Haven't had the chance to read it yet.

[ArthChauc]

This is the closest thing to the listserv that I know how to actually pass along. I'm a member of the Babel FB page, Cloud! Pretty cool group. 

[MedievalMadness]

On 2/19/2014 at 11:41 AM, ArthurianChaucerian said:

This is the closest thing to the listserv that I know how to actually pass along. I'm a member of the Babel FB page, Cloud! Pretty cool group.

Weird! The listserv seems to be almost mythical in its elusiveness. Perhaps it is just for those actively participating in the working group? I would really love to see what they talk about on a day to day basis.

I had a look at the FB page and it just reinforced my adoration. It reminds me of that time I found a book of Lawrence Ferlinghetti poems in high school. It's like a little peek into a realm of weird and interesting ideas.

I really hope I get into WashU. Damn.

[ArthChauc]

On 2/20/2014 at 6:04 AM, MedievalMadness said:

Weird! The listserv seems to be almost mythical in its elusiveness. Perhaps it is just for those actively participating in the working group? I would really love to see what they talk about on a day to day basis.

I had a look at the FB page and it just reinforced my adoration. It reminds me of that time I found a book of Lawrence Ferlinghetti poems in high school. It's like a little peek into a realm of weird and interesting ideas.

I really hope I get into WashU. Damn.

 

As far as the listserv goes, I was given access to everyone's names/emails/interests/universities as a print off via an advisor. My guess is that she has the information because she's part of the group. 

[mmorrison]

I haven't read that, but I certainly will--thanks so much!

 

I'm, er, trying to learn the language online.  Haven't read anything in it so far.  Most of what I've done has been in Latin translation as well, or books written now discussing what other scholars have done.  My work kind of locked me in the eighteenth century for a while, and I'm just getting back to actual medieval Welsh lit.  But I've got a fun project coming up that's been a long while in the making.

 

I haven't published anything yet.  But my sort of mini-thesis was on Geoffrey and his manipulation of Welsh lore to enable the Norman conquest.  I talked about how he tweaked Welsh folk tradition, to the point where his twisted versions influence even the "core" mythological texts like the Mabinogion.  I love the ways the culture has sort of been twisted around, to suit a multitude of purposes, native or otherwise.  I got to present that at a conference, but it's not ready for publication yet.  I hope someday.  It served as my WS for apps.

 

I actually considered doing the Celtic PHD at Harvard, but was talked out of it by my professor, who told me that my lack of language skills would basically knee-cap me in the apps process.  But maybe a study abroad someday... one of my professors is going to try to get time to look at Geoffrey's annotations on a manuscript in Cambridge. Fingers crossed.  But I'll take a summer in Wales.

Lack of language experience is why I opted against pursuing medieval lit, upon the advice of my mentors. I purposely selected programs that had medievalists doing work that interested me, though, in the hope that I can strengthen my knowledge of medieval lit in such a way that it can inform my work on later texts--medievalisms, appeals to origins and founding myths, etc. I'm slightly envious, so I'm lurking. :-) Oh, and I'll be at Kalamazoo. (Also lurking, I guess.)

[cloudofunknowing]

I understand what you mean about how the number of languages needed can be daunting. I didn't let it deter me, though -- having only the barest smattering of Latin, something I'm going to rectify the first opportunity I get this coming Fall -- and was upfront about what languages I intended to study/pursue (French in addition to Latin) beyond Spanish (were I to have need of it). Since I am so interested in Mechthild of Magdeburg's writings and those of Meister Eckhart, I wonder if German might not get thrown into the mix, too, haha....a language I've never studied at all.

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

I dunno maybe it's because I'm worried I'll get rejected from everywhere but for whatever reason every time I glance at the title of this thread I can't help but think  it says " Mcdonaldists, assemble!"

Perhaps its a deep statement about the job market...

perhaps I need some fresh air.

[Katia_chan]

I wouldn't let lack of language skills deter you.  I didn't do any Latin until I was an MA student, and even then, mine is...pretty bad.  It will keep you out of a place like Notre Dame, which I didn't apply to because of that, but unless it's that specific, you should be fine.

 

Someone just told me a great thing about this today--they are not expecting you to become a master.  Where the program is concerned (most likely YMMV etc), they just want to ensure that if you come across a source or an article, that you can muddle your way through it.  You have your whole life to master something--they just want to make sure you have access to as much material as possible.

 

Also I just did a campus visit and am in love, so I may be parroting program-specific advice. I don't know.

[mmorrison]

I wouldn't let lack of language skills deter you.  I didn't do any Latin until I was an MA student, and even then, mine is...pretty bad.  It will keep you out of a place like Notre Dame, which I didn't apply to because of that, but unless it's that specific, you should be fine.

 

Someone just told me a great thing about this today--they are not expecting you to become a master.  Where the program is concerned (most likely YMMV etc), they just want to ensure that if you come across a source or an article, that you can muddle your way through it.  You have your whole life to master something--they just want to make sure you have access to as much material as possible.

 

Also I just did a campus visit and am in love, so I may be parroting program-specific advice. I don't know.

I had a couple of people say the same thing about the language background, but many, many more balked at the idea and tried to put me off it. After having spent the entire summer (ok, there was some beach time in the mix) reading recent critical works by medievalists I might want to work with--primarily those working on material culture--I reassessed and looked again at other options. I decided that in general I am especially drawn to medieval literature for its thematic elements and for what both its form and content reveals about ways of knowing in the middle ages. That's what fascinates me most. I was working very closely with a particularly enthusiastic and supportive mentor in my MA program, who is an eighteenth-centuryist and whose passion for the long 18th c is contagious, and that got me thinking about the Enlightenment and the epistemological sea change that occurred over the medieval and early modern periods and through the Enlightenment. I looked at where that might overlap with some of my specific topical research interests (maternity, reproduction, metaphors of generativity and origins) and I realized that there was some there there. I think that working in a later century but tracing the residual signs of earlier ways of knowing and understanding will give me a valid excuse to deepen my knowledge of medieval lit as I work my way through Enlightenment-era texts finding evidence that the assumption that "ok, we don't think that way anymore now, because science" is unfounded. So, while the advice to rethink my medievalist trajectory felt a bit deflating at the time, I think it was serendipitous (side note: see, that's totally unscientific!) Wow; it's late and I'm exhausted and I just went full nerd, there. Sorry.

[guinevere29]

Wow a lot to respond to! Im so happy this thread as taken off.

Hey there, Guinevere - that class sounds fantastic - I'd take it, anyway! Sadly, no, not going to Kalamazoo (this year). And Indiana - I take it you've studied (or will) with Karma Lochrie? She and Dinshaw are (my teachers aside) who/what made me want to embark on this trek. Her book Heterosyncrasies: Female Sexuality When Normal Wasn't - just fantastic. 

Cloudofunknowing - I am taking a class with Karma right now! She is the best. We are working on Object Oriented Ontology theory and the medeival object/sacred relics. The class is incredibly interesting, Karma is doing some really neat work with pilgrim's badges.

 

Sadly, no. I'm not attending Kzoo this year! My finances have been completely eaten up. Are you, by any chance, participating in Larry Swain's panel?

As for Tolkien and his crew... I am interested in this concept of 'philology' and their analysis of medieval languages. For example, have you checked out Tolkien's Middle English glossary? It's fabulous. Also, C.S. Lewis's 'The Discarded Image' was incredibly influential in my way of thinking about what we call the 'medieval period'. It's such a vast time frame and covers so many cultures and ideas... it's all too numerous to be reduced down to one philosophy or basic timeline. Lewis and Tolkien were participants in a new era of academic study. The Literature degree didn't come to Oxford until right around the turn of the century, so prior to that students had to train in languages if they wanted to read literature for a degree. And, if you think about it, that's how Tolkien approaches writing literature. The story is there to suit the language -- not the other way around. Hmm... I could talk about this all day. Don't let me bore you!

I will have to check those all this out! I can't apply to teach my own curriculum until I've taught Writing & Composition for a year so I'll have to keep all this in mind. A friend of mine mentioned to me though that the reading load for these classes cannot be too ambitious, so I'd have to think of which Tolkien works I'd want to do...but hopefully there would be a lot of interested students to they wouldn't begrudge having to read the Lord of the Rings, though the whole trilogy might be too much.

[guinevere29]

Lack of language experience is why I opted against pursuing medieval lit, upon the advice of my mentors. I purposely selected programs that had medievalists doing work that interested me, though, in the hope that I can strengthen my knowledge of medieval lit in such a way that it can inform my work on later texts--medievalisms, appeals to origins and founding myths, etc. I'm slightly envious, so I'm lurking. :-) Oh, and I'll be at Kalamazoo. (Also lurking, I guess.)

Mmorrison - I think the empahsis on language can vary from program to program. Especialy because medieval work covers quite a range of different texts, if you work with later stuff it's not essential that you have Latin, though it help. My program (Indiana) is especially language-heavy and I think my language background was probably what got me into the program, but that wouldn't neccessarily be the case at a school where there aren't a lot of philologists. 

 

Also Medievalmadness I forgot to respond I'm not on Larry Swain's panel. I'm with Ben Garceau on the Medieval Monster as a Mirror panel.

[MedievalMadness]

This is mostly for Katia's benefit, given her research interests, but I thought the rest of you might be interested too: http://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com/2014/02/susan-crane-animal-encounters.html

A nice review of Susan Crane's 'Animal Encounters' by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. He posted this yesterday. Reading his thoughts on anthropomorphism and environmental encounters makes me wish I had sent along the marvels and bestiaries chapter of my MA thesis as a writing sample to WashU. It would have been right up his alley. sigh.

[ArthChauc]

Katia, tell us all about STL!

[Katia_chan]

It was... so so amazing.  I wish you were coming.

 

First off, they treated us super well--food, receptions, multiple Q&A sessions... I've never been academically courted before (or other-courted, actually), and it was a new experience.  Very fun though.

 

The program itself is amazing though.  I was a little unsure, because none of the faculty I had looked at had interests that directly matched mine.  But they were all so interested, and actively pondered how I could do what I wanted within the department.  I know you'd mentioned Ruth Evans--I loved her.  She was so intelligent and thoughtful, and just a nice person.  And British. That was just awesome.  Lots of British folks around there...

 

They have a really great teaching program too.  It's a 1-1 teaching load, and you get a lot of training before and during.  They talked to us about the course a little, and it sounded actually fun to teach.

 

And, I guess, the main thing for me was.....there were medievalists.  I'm used to sort of flying solo--I was the only one in my MA.  So the fact that there was a community, and that it was active and welcoming, and that the department puts an emphasis on the medieval lit folks...it just blew me away.  You're not the "other" there.  You're a valued member of the department.  They do group conferences, and research groups, and there's funding to pursue your work...

 

Those were the main things for me... it was just lovely.  I think it'd take a lot to change my mind about going there.  It's definitely another plug for doing a campus visit--I was excited, but somewhat unsure before I went.  Now I'm utterly enamoured.

 

Sorry to prattle on.  I'm just excited. :B

[MedievalMadness]

The program itself is amazing though.  I was a little unsure, because none of the faculty I had looked at had interests that directly matched mine.  But they were all so interested, and actively pondered how I could do what I wanted within the department.  I know you'd mentioned Ruth Evans--I loved her.  She was so intelligent and thoughtful, and just a nice person.  And British. That was just awesome.  Lots of British folks around there...

 

Oh man, Ruth Evans is wonderful! You're so lucky to get to work with her! Awhile back I submitted an abstract to her for a panel at a conference. It turned out that my paper didn't really fit the theme as well as I would have liked, but she gave me tons of constructive feedback.

[Katia_chan]

I could see her being an incredible mentor.  She was helping me out when we were just sitting chatting in her office.  She had this thing where even when it was a group of us talking, I always felt like she was talking to me, even when she wasn't--I don't know if she's intense, or just makes really good eye contact or what, but I always felt like I was being firmly engaged in the conversation

[ArthChauc]

I'm so glad you had a good time! I wish I was coming too, but I'm glad someone who appreciates Ruth Evans is going haha!

 

It all sounds amazing--you're right about the Medieval thing, that's why I have my fingers crossed for UNM right now! Is anyone else applying to New Mexico? I'm currently freaking out/fangirling over them. 

[Katia_chan]

I looked at them after my advisor recommended them.  Didn't end up applying, and I don't even remember why anymore.  But they look amazing.

 

It sounds like WUSTL does a ton of conference support, so maybe we will be able to see each other at conferences and stuff.

 

Fingers crossed for you there!!!!

[ArthChauc]

Ugh, you're the best. Thank you. I'm going to PM you now--I have a story/want your opinion. 

[heliogabalus]

MMorrison, if you are even tangentially interested in medieval stuff, and you check out UT, you have to meet Professor Kaulbach. He kind of flies under the radar, but he's phenomenal. Knows more about the medieval world than anyone I've ever met.

[mmorrison]

MMorrison, if you are even tangentially interested in medieval stuff, and you check out UT, you have to meet Professor Kaulbach. He kind of flies under the radar, but he's phenomenal. Knows more about the medieval world than anyone I've ever met.

Thanks! They were my first rejection, but if I have a chance to meet Dr. Kaulbach, I will seek him out. Perhaps at Kalamazoo? Thank you for the suggestion!

[MedievalMadness]

AC - Judith Butler was in the news this morning: http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/02/24/judith-butler-withdraws-talk-jewish-museum

She was going to give a talk on Kafka, which was then cancelled due to controversy surrounding her boycott of Israel. She had some interesting things to say on the subject.

[mmorrison]

Perhaps they should 

 

AC - Judith Butler was in the news this morning: http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/02/24/judith-butler-withdraws-talk-jewish-museum

She was going to give a talk on Kafka, which was then cancelled due to controversy surrounding her boycott of Israel. She had some interesting things to say on the subject.

What happens if they opt for a linguistic solution and, instead of "canceling" her talk, opt to "boycott" her?

[heliogabalus]

(MMorrison, sorry I somehow mixed up the schools. UCDavis and Oregon both look like departments I'd love to study in--I'm a bit envious!)

[cloudofunknowing]

AC - Judith Butler was in the news this morning: http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/02/24/judith-butler-withdraws-talk-jewish-museum

She was going to give a talk on Kafka, which was then cancelled due to controversy surrounding her boycott of Israel. She had some interesting things to say on the subject.

 

This reminds me of a fracas at Brooklyn College not too long ago because of Butler lecturing/having a conversation there about relations between Israel and Palestine (her remarks given at that event can be found here http://www.thenation.com/article/172752/judith-butlers-remarks-brooklyn-college-bds). Despite the fact that Kafka was the subject to be discussed, I guess she perhaps didn't want a repeat of all of that, and perhaps thought it likely due to the venue. 

 

MMorrison, if you are even tangentially interested in medieval stuff, and you check out UT, you have to meet Professor Kaulbach. He kind of flies under the radar, but he's phenomenal. Knows more about the medieval world than anyone I've ever met.

 

I'm 99% sure that I will be heading up to Austin to do medieval things at UT this Fall - and I'm familiar with the work of Geraldine Heng and Elizabeth Scala, less so with the other medievalist faculty, and excited to meet them all - can you say more about this? 

 

I could see her being an incredible mentor.  She was helping me out when we were just sitting chatting in her office.  She had this thing where even when it was a group of us talking, I always felt like she was talking to me, even when she wasn't--I don't know if she's intense, or just makes really good eye contact or what, but I always felt like I was being firmly engaged in the conversation

 

This Fall during the madness of all the application stuff, I realized that the 2012 Exemplaria symposium had video archives (http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/english/exemplaria/Live-Stream.php) of the different papers and q&a's for the different panels they held. Just stellar stuff - Carolyn Dinshaw, Karma Lochrie, Jeffrey Cohen, Sara Poor, Patricia Claire Ingham, Geraldine Heng, Louise Aranye Fradenburg - Evans gave an essay as part of the panel on gender and chaired the final panel. Very, very cool. I hope another of those conferences happens soon!