WORDS OF LOVE AND LOVE OF WORDS IN THE MIDDLE AGES AND THE RENAISSANCE
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TUCSON
April 29-May 1, 2005
Deadline for submission: January 28, 2005
Professor Albrecht Classen
Department of German Studies
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
aclassen@u.arizona.edu
www.gened.arizona.edu/aclassen
phone: (520) 621-1395
fax: (520) 626-8268
This will be an interdisciplinary symposium with no (!) concurrent sessions. Maximum participation: 25 speakers. There are plans to publish selected papers.
Words of Love and Love of Words. This playful chiasmic statement is not only ornamental, but goes to the heart of medieval and early-modern culture. The true heyday of the Middle Ages can be located in the twelfth century when poets in the south of France discovered the theme of courtly love, which then quickly spread throughout Europe and became the dominant issue of all public discourse far into the sixteenth century. The conference will examine not only how premodern poets formulated ideas of love, but more important, how the new idea of love impacted the fundamental system of communication, the development of new religious ideas (mysticism), modes of thinking (philosophy), concepts of language (linguistics), and perception of reality (epistemology). This symposium will intertwine cultural aspects (words of love) with central issues of human hermeneutics (love of words). The chiasmic approach to this investigation will be interdisciplinary and comparative by nature, and it promises to uncover many new dimensions of medieval and early modern perceptions of the self and key components of the intellectual and emotive analysis of the human environment. Ultimately, the goal is to uncover the true nature of love poetry and love discourse as the critical vehicles for all human efforts in the interpretation of our physical and metaphysical universe.
Hotel Accommodations: Will be arranged for you, with two options (Lodge on the Desert, ca. $89./night, or, Riverpark Inn (formerly Pueblo Inn), ca. $59./night). Transportation to and from the symposium (at the University of Arizona Library, Special Collections), will be provided. All meals and receptions will be covered by your registration ($60). On Sunday, May 1, 2005, there will be an excursion to a desert garden, Tohono Chul, and to one of the oldest churches in town, San Xavier del Bac (or alternative sites). This excursion will also be covered. Languages accepted at the symposium: English, French, and German. Abstracts of all papers will be posted well ahead of the symposium.