The Monstrous and the Uncanny: Figuring Medieval Macabre"

Abstracts are invited for a session to be held at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo in 2007. The session will consider different expressions of and approaches to the macabre in medieval art and literature. Why and how did the macabre develop? How did it figure death, and why? How did the macabre engage with the issues of socio-political power, and terrestrial and celestial authority? What was its connection to the continuing rise of the vernacular culture and secular reforms? In what way did oral and written discourses function in its development? What was the role of the spectator in the viewing/enactment of the macabre? Scholars are encouraged to consider, among other topics, texts and images related to the Offices of the Dead, the transi tombs, the Dance of Death, the Legend of the Three Dead and the Three Living, the Triumph of Death, ars moriendi treatises and vado mori verses.

The deadline is September 15, 2006. Please send the abstracts to Prof. Elina Gertsman, Southern Illinois University, School of Art and Design - 4301, Carbondale, IL 62901, or better yet e-mail them to gertsman@siu.edu