Thursday 10:30 a.m., Bernhard 205
Session 34: Old French Literature I 
Presider: Christine Chism, Univ. of California–Los Angeles
Two Kings, Two Cuckolds, and the Meaning of Love in Marie de France’s Equitan
Sarah Kooienga, Grand Valley State Univ.
Discovering the Ship in Marie de France’s Guigemar
Yue Chen Hou, McMaster Univ.
The Sensory Perception and Connotation of Cited Refrains in Old French Chansons
James Terry, Oglethorpe Univ.
A Matter of Cors: Translating Identity in the Cansos of Arnaut Daniel
Annie Doucet, Tulane Univ.

Thursday 1:30 p.m., Valley 2 Garneau Lounge
Session 51: In Her Own Words: Twelfth-Century French Women’s Voices in Performance (A Performance Roundtable)
Organizer: Simonetta Cochis, Transylvania Univ.
Presider: Simonetta Cochis
A performance roundtable with Dorothy Gilbert, Univ. of California–Berkeley; Julie Human, Univ. of Kentucky; Yvonne LeBlanc, Independent Scholar; and Tamara Bentley Caudill, Jacksonville Univ.

Thursday 7:30 p.m., Bernhard 212
Session 158: Fear of Domestic Abuse in Medieval Texts 
Organizer: Kisha G. Tracy, Fitchburg State Univ.
Presider: Eve Salisbury, Western Michigan Univ.
Marriage, Murder, and Memory: Saint Godelieve of Gistel and the Changing Uses of Her Vitae in the Later Middle Ages
Katherine Clark Walter, College at Brockport
How “Mild” Is Her “Chere”? Does The King of Tars Offer a Model for Female Empowerment?
Danielle Sottosanti, Fordham Univ.
“He hadde assayed hire ynogh bifore”: Griselda’s Patience Revisited
Amber Dunai, Texas A&M Univ.–Central Texas
Bisclavret’s Wife, Were-abusers, and the Fear of Violence
Kisha G. Tracy
Respondent: Eve Salisbury

Friday 10:00 a.m., Valley 2 Garneau Lounge
Session 165:  Marie and Ovid (A Roundtable) 
Sponsor: International Marie de France Society
Organizer: Tamara Bentley Caudill, Jacksonville Univ.
Presider: Ed Ouellette, Air Command and Staff College
A roundtable discussion with Dorothy Gilbert, Univ. of California–Berkeley; Susan Hopkirk, Univ. of Toronto; Julie Human, Univ. of Kentucky; Emanuel Mickel, Indiana Univ.–Bloomington; Rupert T. Pickens, Univ. of Kentucky; and Logan Whalen, Univ. of Oklahama.

Friday 1:30 p.m., Valley 2 Garneau Lounge
Session 222: Queering Marie 
Sponsor: International Marie de France Society
Organizer: Leslie Anderson, Tulane Univ.
Presider: Leslie Anderson
Feminization and Queer Violence in the Lais of Marie de France
Elizabeth Liendo, Pennsylvania State Univ.
Queer Embodiment, Homosocial Imagining, and Human Being in Bisclavret
Emily McLemore, Univ. of Notre Dame
Shapeshifting Knights and Subservient Wives: Marie de France Challenging Marriage within Her Lais
Marybeth Perdomo, Univ. of New Mexico
Fathers Beware: Marie de France, Les Deus Amanz, and the Case for Tempered Paternal Love
Audrey C. Townsend, Univ. of Oklahoma

Friday 3:30 p.m., Valley 2 Garneau Lounge
Session 280: Le Fresne Again! Ten Years of Performing Marie de France (A Performance)
Sponsor: International Marie de France Society
Organizer: Tamara Bentley Caudill, Jacksonville Univ.
Presider: Arielle McKee, Purdue Univ.
Performances by Walter A. Blue, Hamline Univ.; Simonetta Cochis, Transylvania Univ.; Ronald Cook, Independent Scholar; Dorothy Gilbert, Univ. of California– Berkeley; and Yvonne LeBlanc, Independent Scholar; with discussant Evelyn Birge Vitz, New York Univ.

Saturday 12:00 noon
Fetzer 1030
International Marie de France Society Business Meeting

Saturday 1:30 p.m., Valley 3 Stinson Lounge
Session 397: Performing Courtly Love
Sponsor: International Courtly Literature Society (ICLS), North American Branch
Organizer: Christopher Callahan, Illinois Wesleyan Univ.
Presider: Christopher Callahan
Performing Courtly Love in Pas d’armes: The St. Petersburg Manuscript of the
Pas de Saumur
Catherine Blunk, Drury Univ.
“I’ve been through the forest on a horse with bad reins”: Performing the Lay of Trot
Tamara Bentley Caudill, Jacksonville Univ.

The International Marie de France Society will sponsor three panels for the International Congress on Medieval Studies, to be held on the campus of Western Michigan University, May 10-13, 2018. Abstracts must be received by the session organizer, Tamara Bentley Caudill (tcaudil1@ju.edu), by September 15, 2017.

New for 2018: Graduate Students who participate as panelists in our sessions will be eligible to receive an IMFS-sponsored travel award in the amount of the Congress pre-registration fee for students. Last year, this fee was $95. The award(s) will be presented at our business meeting, which has historically occurred on Saturday at noon.

Note: You do not have to be a member of the society to submit a topic, but all presenters are expected to join for the 2018-2019 Academic Year. See Join IMFS for our dues schedule.

(1 – Papers) Queering Marie

This paper panel proposes to call attention to tales of queerness and alterity in the works of
Marie de France or her imitators. Papers may address any of the known works by Marie de France (the Lais, the Fables, the Espurgatoire seint Patriz, and/or La vie Seinte Audree) or the anonymous lays. Comparative analyses that draw connections between Marie and other works of medieval literature are welcome. Papers may consider, but should not be limited to, animal studies, disability studies, gender and sexuality, alterity, and so on. The objective is to stimulate discussion regarding the ways that Marie’s oeuvre addresses these themes in the Middle Ages and its broader implications.

(2 – Roundtable) Marie and Ovid

This roundtable will bring together a group of scholars interested in the intersection of the Old
French narrative lay, particularly those of Marie de France, and the Ovidian tradition. In addition
to drawing inspiration from oral Breton lays that circulated in her milieu (“des lais pensai qu’oïz
aveie” v. 33, Prologue, Lais), Marie de France draws philosophical and literary frames from the
“anciens” (v. 9) or “li philosophe” (v. 5): those who set the standards within which she composes
her poetic corpus. In this context, Ovid presents himself as an intriguing undercurrent in Marie’s
works; and this session will explore Ovid as palimpsest in Marie’s Lais. Topics may include the
transformation of lovers from human to animal (and vice versa), the rewriting of classical myths
such as Philomela, Narcissus, or Piramus and Thisbe, the influence of the Ars Amatoria and the
Remedia Amoris, and other related issues. Special consideration will be given to participants with interdisciplinary approaches, either traditional (art, philosophy, religion, etc.) or contemporary (animal studies, disability studies, etc.). Roundtable participants will be asked to transform their presentations into full-length articles, to be submitted to Le Cygne, the society’s journal.

(3 – Performances) Le Fresne Again! Celebrating a Decade of Performing Marie de France

2018 marks the 10th anniversary of our popular performance panel in its current format; and we plan to bring back the original performers (with a few new faces) for an all-new performance of the text that started it all: Le Fresne. As in years past, the panel will involve period music, new
translations, and dramatic readings in the original language. As Joyce Coleman, Evelyn Birge Vitz, and others have argued, hearing a text read aloud or watching its performance both mirrors the way the work would have been consumed in the Middle Ages and enhances our modern understanding. Our attendees regularly report that their perception of the work changes over the course of the session.

Contact information

Submit abstracts of less than 300 words to the organizer:

Tamara Bentley Caudill
Assistant Professor of French
Division of Humanities
Jacksonville University
2800 University Boulevard North
Jacksonville, FL 32211

tcaudil1@ju.edu

In advance of the International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 11-14, 2017, here is a list of papers and panels of interest to IMFS members. Speakers with asterisks are also members of the Society.

Session 372, Saturday 10:00 a.m., Schneider 1280 — Teaching Marie de France (A Roundtable): A roundtable discussion with Dorothy Gilbert (U. of California–Berkeley)*; Julie Human (U. of Kentucky); Ann McCullough (Middle Tennessee State U.)*; Tamara Bentley Caudill (Tulane U.)*; Robin Hermann (U. of Louisiana–Lafayette); Evelyn Birge Vitz (New York U.)*

Session 395, Saturday 1:30 p.m., Valley III Stinson Lounge —  Performances of Marie de France: Yonec: Simonetta Cochis (Transylvania U.)*; Yvonne LeBlanc (Independent Scholar); Walter A. Blue (Hamline U.)*; Dorothy Gilbert (U. of California– Berkeley)*

Session 447, Saturday 3:30 p.m., Valley III Stinson Lounge — The Versatile Marie de France: Misconceptions and Issues of Deception in Marie de France’s Lanval? – Anne Caillaud (Grand Valley State U.)*; The Birds and the Bees: Animals and Gender in Marie de France – Susan Hopkirk (U. of Toronto); Marie in English Verse: Challenges and Opportunities – Ron Cook (Independent Scholar)*

Saturday Noon, Fetzer 1030 —  International Marie de France Society Meeting: Business Meeting

Other Panels and Papers of Interest

Session 30, Thursday 10:00 a.m., Bernhard 158 — Ihesu Dulcis: Devotion to the Hold Name in Medieval Europe: Chivalry, Piety, and Devotion to the Name of Christ in Marie de France’s Saint Patrick’s Purgatory – Stephen G. Moore (U. of Regina)

Session 66, Thursday 1:30 p.m., Schneider 1280 — Gender and Species: Ecofeminist Intersections (A Roundtable): La Femme Bisclavret: Gender, Species, and Language – Alison Langdon (Western Kentucky U.)

Session 150, Thursday 7:30 p.m., Fetzer 1060 — Performance in and of Courtly Literature: A  chantar in Performance – Laura Zoll (Independent Scholar)*; The Performance of Awe in Courtly Romance – Evelyn Birge Vitz* (New York U.)*; Shifting Our Horizons of Expectation: Love Service in the Devotional Contrafacta of Jacques de Cambrai – Christopher Callahan (Illinois Wesleyan U.)*;  – “Þe forme to be fynisment foldez ful selden”: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Dynamics of Performance; Gerard Lavin (U. of New Mexico – U. of New Mexico Graduate Student Prize Winner)

Session 427, Saturday 1:30 p.m., Schneider 1335 — Shifting Shape and Changing Form I: The Translation of Transformation: Body Schema in the Anglo-Norman Bisclavret and Old Norse Bisclarets ljóð – Andrea Whitacre (Indiana U.–Bloomington)

The International Marie de France Society will sponsor three panels for the International Congress on Medieval Studies, to be held on the campus of Western Michigan University, May 11-14, 2017. Abstracts must be received by the session organizer, Tamara Bentley Caudill (tcaudil1@ju.edu), by September 15, 2016.

Note: You do not have to be a member of the society to submit a topic, but all presenters are expected to join for the 2017-2018 Academic Year. See Join IMFS for our dues schedule.

(1 – Papers) The Versatile Marie de France: This paper panel proposes to call attention to the variety and versatility of Marie de France’s works. Papers may address any of the known works by Marie de France (the Lais, the Fables, the Espurgatoire seint Patriz, and/or La vie Seinte Audree) or the anonymous lays. Comparative analyses that draw connections between works of medieval literature are welcome. Papers may draw on theories such as animal studies, gender and sexuality, translation theory, and so on.

(2 – Roundtable) Teaching Marie de France: This roundtable will bring together a group of scholars interested in teaching Marie de France in a multitude of classroom contexts. Topics may include — but are not limited to — teaching English majors and/or non-majors, teaching in translation, selecting texts, incorporating theory, other pedagogical techniques, and so on.

(3 – Performances) Performances of Marie de France: Yonec: Our crowd pleasing performance panel returns with a dramatic rendition of Yonec. Continuing the tradition, the panel will include dramatic readings in both English and the original language, new translations, and costumes. Hearing the lai as audiences in Marie’s time would have perhaps experienced it adds another dimension to our understanding and appreciation of her work, highlighting both its humor and its pathos.

Contact information

Submit abstracts of less than 300 words to the organizer:

Tamara Bentley Caudill
Assistant Professor of French
Division of Humanities
Jacksonville University
2800 University Boulevard North
Jacksonville, FL 32211

tcaudil1@ju.edu