I've just finished writing my half of a paper for the British Branch meeting of the International Arthurian Society next week in Oxford. Programme can be found
here. It's the first time I've collaborated on a joint paper, and (with fingers crossed that Leah agrees!) it has been a remarkably smooth experience. I've always wanted to work more closely with colleagues who research French medieval literature, and this paper shows what value you can get from joining areas of expertise. I'm nervous about my input: the paper looks at medieval ideas of authorship, and how publishing uses the author as a paratext to promote texts, and I've used some very current publishing examples to try and draw parallels with what Caxton was doing in the fifteenth century. Some of the books I've found useful are A J Minnis's
Medieval Ideas of Authorship, N F Blake's
William Caxton and English Literary Culture, and
Re-Viewing Le Morte Darthur, edited by K S Whetter and Raluca L Radulescu, particularly the essay by Tom Hanks.
After a long period with very little time for concentrated reading, am glutting on a long reading list that is in desperate need of attention. It is taking a while to feel like my brain is connecting ideas again: have found it difficult to switch off management / admin antennae that mean always thinking of several different tasks at once and how to achieve results, and find focussed space so that reading and thinking on one connected thread works. I love it that my desk looks like the photo. Bibliotherapy in a mind-muscle sense!
I've just finished writing my half of a paper for the British Branch meeting of the International Arthurian Society next week in Oxford. Programme can be found here. It's the first time I've collaborated on a joint paper, and (with fingers crossed that Leah agrees!) it has been a remarkably smooth experience. I've always wanted to work more closely with colleagues who research French medieval literature, and this paper shows what value you can get from joining areas of expertise. I'm nervous about my input: the paper looks at medieval ideas of authorship, and how publishing uses the author as a paratext to promote texts, and I've used some very current publishing examples to try and draw parallels with what Caxton was doing in the fifteenth century. Some of the books I've found useful are A J Minnis's Medieval Ideas of Authorship, N F Blake's William Caxton and English Literary Culture, and Re-Viewing Le Morte Darthur, edited by K S Whetter and Raluca L Radulescu, particularly the essay by Tom Hanks.
After a long period with very little time for concentrated reading, am glutting on a long reading list that is in desperate need of attention. It is taking a while to feel like my brain is connecting ideas again: have found it difficult to switch off management / admin antennae that mean always thinking of several different tasks at once and how to achieve results, and find focussed space so that reading and thinking on one connected thread works. I love it that my desk looks like the photo. Bibliotherapy in a mind-muscle sense!
