Call for contributions: The Life Course in Early Medieval England: Cultural-Historical Perspectives (deadline for proposals: 15 June, 2019)
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> Building on four successful sessions at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds (2017; 2018) and a stand-alone conference in Cambridge (2019), we plan to publish an edited volume of papers that deal with how the complex concept of the life course (with all of its biological, social and cultural aspects) influenced the lives, writings and art of the inhabitants of early medieval England. A person’s tally of years could influence or even define one’s legal, religious and social status, as well as one’s attitude towards members of other age groups. The cultural definition and the social, legal and religious status of the life course in Anglo-Saxon England have rarely been explored outside the field of archaeology (e.g., works by Nick Stoodley and Sally Crawford). Nevertheless, texts, including homilies and Beowulf, as well as visual art, such as the illustrations to the Harley Psalter, touch upon various schematisations of the human life course as well as intergenerational dynamics, making the cultural dimensions of the life cycle in Anglo-Saxon England a promising field of research. More broadly, the concept of the life course may fruitfully be applied to material culture (‘the life course of things’).
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> Paper proposals are welcome from all disciplines, including literary studies, art history, history, archaeology and lexicography.
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> Possible topics/themes include but are not limited to:
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> - Definitions, concepts, and constructions of the life cycle
> - The life course in art and literaturewhich may result in the rejection of a paper at a later date)
> •          Deadline first draft (6000-8000 words): 1 January 2020
> •          Feedback editors: 1 March, 2020
> •          Revised versions due: 1 May, 2020
> •          30 June 2020: Send book to publishers for peer review
> •          Publication in 2021
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> Dr Thijs Porck - Assistant Professor of Medieval English
> Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society
> Website and blog: www.dutchanglosaxonist.com <http://www.dutchanglosaxonist.com/>
> Twitter: www.twitter.com/thijsporck <http://www.twitter.com/thijsporck>