tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post6451197972935993184..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: post NCS postCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-11668315114892005492008-07-29T20:08:00.000-04:002008-07-29T20:08:00.000-04:00Great comment Jonathan, but, Jeffrey, I'm afraid t...Great comment Jonathan, but, Jeffrey, I'm afraid that we'll just have to wait forever for the US to stop torturing people. Like most states, it's never not done so.Karl Steelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-72445725578256113422008-07-27T06:59:00.000-04:002008-07-27T06:59:00.000-04:00Jonthan, re: war -- what a keen observation. I had...Jonthan, re: war -- what a keen observation. I hadn't noticed, so I am happy that you did, and since you mention it, war and violence were certainly an undercurrent. As was cosmopolitanism. Gerry Heng and I had an interesting conversation with a few other scholars in which the two of us argued that cosmopolitanism is mainly a form of utopianism, but one that can ignore the lived experience of the subaltern for the plenitude of a (wealthy, privileged, comfortable) mode of living -- that is, a problem with the words is that it can hide more problems than it solves (just like celebrations of cultural diversity or multiculturalism often obscure the inequalities that actually structure relations among various cultures). Gerry, who is much smarter than I am, spoke about other possible modes of cosmopolitanism that don't accept the world as it is, as if acknowledging difference were akin to righting structural wrongs.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, Jonathan, thanks for your comment. I am very interested in what NCS 2010 will bring. Will the reign of Obama bring a new focus upon the affirmative for US scholars? Will some of our pessimism drain away if and when the US stops (for example) torturing people? We'll see.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-28018727563747420322008-07-27T05:21:00.000-04:002008-07-27T05:21:00.000-04:00Jeffrey - a great series of posts post-Swansea. I ...Jeffrey - a great series of posts post-Swansea. I felt very aware, at this NCS, that the field is rapidly expanding and moving in exciting directions. I couldn't agree more with your assessment of the widened scope of NCS and the "rising star" status of Gower. And I was quite gratified to hear the plenaries of Butterfield and Wogan-Browne - they really demonstrated how many of us are now reconfiguring Chaucer within a multilingual, multiethnic England/Britain (and world, for that matter). Of course, Baswell's plenary on 'eccentric bodies' was stimulating, even inspiring. Ganim gave an intriguing closing presentation on medieval cosmopolitanism and "the notion of home as an alien place" throughout Chaucer's work (among other things), and I appreciated his gesture of including younger scholars as respondents to his presentation.<BR/><BR/>Something I found intriguing in NCS was the underlying specter of war many of the presentations - from the Hundred Years' War as a backdrop to Butterfield's explication of English and French linguistic exchange, World War II transforming the Kent landscape in Dinshaw's presentation on "A Canterbury Tale," and even McCabe's surprisingly earnest reflections on the oft-cited maxim that a language is a "dialect with an army and a navy" (not to mention sessions on the Crusades or Simpson on the academy and the CIA). I hadn't noticed such a pronounced interest in language, nation, and geopolitics in the last NCS - and I find it productive that the contemporary state of world affairs is (implicitly and explicitly) provoking us to reassess our own relationship to the past. It has given the field an energy and urgency that I find stimulating. NCS seemed very aware that medieval studies is at a pivotal point or juncture, and I'll be interested to see where it turns in years to come.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-68311941317424492372008-07-25T09:51:00.000-04:002008-07-25T09:51:00.000-04:00Oh yes, and just as important: Baswell's plea on b...Oh yes, and just as important: Baswell's plea on behalf of medieval eccentric and odd bodies was turned at the end into a plea from himself as one such body.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-25733543173663303052008-07-25T09:50:00.000-04:002008-07-25T09:50:00.000-04:00I wish that I had taken good notes; I did not. Bas...I wish that I had taken good notes; I did not. Baswell used several images, including the Luttrell psalter image of the figure being carried that you have on your own blog, but he mainly concentrated upon some images of Edward the Confessor, focused upon his first miracle: the healing of man with whom, visually, he makes a sympathetic identification. That bond of feeling was a centerpiece of the argument (which was about the emotion and ethical ties between the figures, and not the story's conclusion in rehabilitation or cure). <BR/><BR/>The piece was quite short: this was a plenary session with four fifteen minute papers. It was heartfelt, and powerful. It was also in some ways a return to the identity politics that I think of has having characterized much early work on literature's Others. <BR/><BR/>I hope that helps a bit, and I hope as well that someone will correct me if I got something wrong. I am going only on my own recollection here, and as my recent narration of episodes involving Dr Virago and Stephanie Trigg demonstrate, my version of events is never to be trusted.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-53416556879248167782008-07-24T18:40:00.000-04:002008-07-24T18:40:00.000-04:00Does anyone have notes from Chris Baswell's paper ...Does anyone have notes from Chris Baswell's paper that they'd be willing to share? I'd love to hear what he had to say about disability at the NCS.Greg Carrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18016791442312149994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-24308077093026028902008-07-24T06:09:00.000-04:002008-07-24T06:09:00.000-04:00Betsy, Justin, Myra: "fell short"?! I'd hate to se...Betsy, Justin, Myra: "fell short"?! I'd hate to see what contentment looks like! Despite my gripes about beds and dorms, it was an enjoyable conference all around -- and part of that fun was the pure pleasure of the companionship of Betsy, Justin, and Myra. You three are the best.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-2275003950386654182008-07-23T19:51:00.000-04:002008-07-23T19:51:00.000-04:00Ganim was a gentleman, distributing praise widely ...Ganim was a gentleman, distributing praise widely among the conference participants. He welcomed the prospect of a more inclusive NCS and encouraged it through the panel he invited to conclude his address. The conference program as a whole seemed particularly inclusive, and very impressive. BUT Jeffrey, we did our best to show you a good time and fear we fell short. Any drawbacks in Swansea seemed, from our perspective, to be eclipsed by the intellectual stimulation & camaraderie of the compaignye.<BR/><BR/>Betsy,Justin & MyraAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04899421834903036866noreply@blogger.com