English /Linguistics Seminar, Friday 13 March: two topics in medieval literature (Pamela Treanor and Roberto Suazo)

By Otago University | Posted:

The Otago English and Linguistics Seminar series for semester 1, 2020 continues this week with shorter presentations by two Otago postgraduate students in English, both working on topics in medieval literature with associate prof. Simone Marshall.

Pamela Treanor, a candidate for the MA., will talk on the subject, “A Study of British Library, Harley MS. 2320: Its Social, Cultural Economic Environment.” She describes her topic as follows:

BL Harley MS 2320 is a small 15th-c. manuscript household book in Middle English. My study of the various facets of the making, owning and use of this document can help us identify changes in reader knowledge and word meanings over time, which can affect our understanding of some medieval poetical works. Also, some of the interests reflected in the book connect the fifteenth century and the present.

Roberto Suazo is a candidate for Ph.D. He will talk about “Women’s Laughter in Medieval Literature: Ambivalence and Transgression in the Ovidian Tradition.” He describes his topic as follows:

This research considers how medieval writers such as Chaucer, Boccaccio and Juan Ruiz were influenced by the Roman poet Ovid, particularly with regard to their use of the motif of women's laughter. One general assumption is that these writers tend to depict female laughter in paradoxical and transgressive ways, exposing the chinks and cracks of misogynistic discourses about women’s nature and gender boundaries.

The seminar meets as usual in the Castle Lecture Theatre D, at 4.00 p.m., on Friday, 13 March 2020.