New Approaches to Medieval Romance from the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond, c. 1100-1500, University of Birmingham, December 5, 2019
In recent decades, the study of medieval romance literature has benefited from the application of new theoretical and methodological approaches, ranging from gender historical perspectives to global and ecocritical theory. However, in comparison with the still wider body of literature dedicated to western medieval romance, the Byzantine romances remain a relatively under-studied group of texts. Despite clear evidence of intertextuality between the romance literature of Byzantium and other parts of the medieval world, much work remains to be done in order to understand how the romances are situated within their historical, literary, and social contexts, on both the Byzantine and global medieval stage. This workshop aims to examine the value of new historical or literary approaches to these texts, and ultimately consider them from a multidisciplinary perspective. What can new perspectives on the Byzantine romance tell us about the world in which they were created? What can be learned from the theoretical approaches being applied to romance literature from other parts of the medieval world? What links exist between Byzantine romance and romantic texts from other medieval cultures, and what do these reveal about the broader literary and cultural networks of that time?
The papers presented at this workshop explore the medieval Greek romances from multiple theoretical and disciplinary viewpoints. Intertextual and cross-comparative analyses situate the romances in their literary, cultural, and global contexts, whilst other interpretations focus on the roles of narrative voices and authorial perspectives in constructing character and meaning. Other papers viewing the romances through lenses such as gender, spirituality, liminality and materiality explore aspects of identity in the worlds that their authors construct.
The workshop will conclude with a keynote lecture from Elizabeth Jeffreys (Oxford), as part of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies’ annual lecture series.
Advance registration required.