Boccaccio at 700: Medieval Contexts and Global Intertexts

Boccaccio at 700: Medieval Contexts and Global Intertexts

An Interdisciplinary Conference: April 26-7, Sponsored by the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York

CFP: http://www2.binghamton.edu/cemers/conferences/boccaccio.html

Panel seeking submissions: Boccaccio in Medieval England

Every Middle English scholar is familiar with Boccaccio’s presence in Chaucer’s work. In 1378, Chaucer went to Lombardy under the direction of the King and John of Gaunt.  On this trip Chaucer is thought to have his first encounter with Boccaccio’s Teseida, the source of his Knight’s Tale, and also to have possibly come in contact with Boccaccio’s Filostrato at this time.  Much work has been done on the textual, cultural, and historical connections between Chaucer and Boccaccio.

But what about other Middle English authors?  With such a well-known and diverse body of work in both Latin and Italian, it is clear that Giovanni Boccaccio would have been known to other Middle English authors besides Chaucer.  This panel seeks to explore the intertextual reverberations between the corpus of Boccaccio and Middle English texts beyond Chaucer.  For instance, contemporary and friend of Chaucer, John Gower undoubtedly was affected by Boccaccio’s writings, but little work has been done showing the Florentine’s impact on Gower.  Likewise, the presence of Boccaccio’s Latin texts, like his De Casibus Virorum Illustrium, in Lydgate’s work would benefit from further investigation.  No single approach, theory, Middle English text or author (with exception to Chaucer) is beyond the purview of this panel.  One of the primary goals of this panel is to explore, on the occasion of his 700^th birthday, the extent of Boccaccio’s reach into late medieval English textual cultures.

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words for 20 minute papers to:

christianbeck@ucf.edu  Deadline: September 1, 2012.