The
Department of English presents:
The Faculty
Research Colloquium
Headless and Loving It: Tactile Beings of the Middle Ages
by Lara Farina
Lurking
at the edges of medieval maps, strange creatures display their bizarre
anatomies. Sciapods rest in the shade provided by their torso-sized feet,
Panotti wrap themselves in their dangling ears, and Blemmyae stare ahead with
eyes sunk deep in their chests. The exaggerated extremities of the “monstrous
races” enabled speculation about the operation and possibilities of the human
body and about sensation in particular. This talk will follow the cultural
career of one of these figures, the headless Blemmyae, to explore medieval
ideas about tactility and the role of touch in practices of reading. Texts to
be touched upon include The Wonders of
the East, Mandeville’s Travels, and the works of the “Pearl Poet”
manuscript (Cleanness, Pearl, Patience,
and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.)
December
5, 2012
2:30
p.m., 130 Colson Hall
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