Medieval Francophone Literary Culture Outside France is a three-day international conference to be held at King’s College, Cambridge
Over the course of twelve sessions, we will deal with the travel of francophone literary texts and manuscripts across Europe (the Mediterranean, Italy, France, the Low Countries, and the British Isles) and beyond (Cyprus, the Morea, Acre, the Crusader Kingdoms in the Holy Land). Particular focus will be placed on the period between the 12th and the 15th century and on the southern routes of travel and dissemination, especially as they relate to broader and more complex itineraries involving northern centres and courts.
An exhibition at the University Library will be held in conjunction with the conference. ‘The Moving Word: French Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge’ will open in January 2014 and will have some 50 French manuscripts from the Cambridge colleges, museums, and university collections on display. One session of the conference will incorporate a visit to this exhibition and will include presentations on the Cambridge holdings and the particular items exhibited.
Our questions include:
- In what social and cultural milieus were francophone texts composed and disseminated outside ‘France’?
- Is there a transnational francophone literary culture and how does it vary from place to place?
- Does the focus and form of these francophone literary texts change as they migrate?
- Do sites of production and transmission outside ‘France’ influence traditions within ‘France’?
- Does literary French imply a cultural identity and is this necessarily associated with France?
- Are cultural identities mobile, produced by movement as much as by place?
- What is the cultural freight of non-standard and hybrid forms of French, for writers and readers?
- How do non-standard forms of French influence our understanding of what ‘French’ means?
- What are the implications of all of these questions for literary history?
Keynote speakers include:
- Professor Charmaine Lee (Università di Salerno)
- Professor Regina Psaki (University of Oregon)
- Professor Fabio Zinelli (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris).