הסדנה הבינלאומית של בית הספר להיסטוריה, 25/12: אירינה דומיטרסקו
Contextualizing the Self: Creating and Recreating the First Person
The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities
The Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies
Contextualizing the Self:
Creating and Recreating the First Person
An Interdisciplinary Workshop 2018 – 2019
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
16:15 – 17:45
Gilman Building, room 449
Chairman: Prof. Aviad Kleinberg
Lecture by:
Irina Dumitrescu
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn
Charismatic Performances in Medieval Literature
My talk begins with a brief discussion of the term “charisma”, describing its historical development and the limitations of scholarly definitions that focus primarily on positive qualities. I then suggest ways of thinking about charisma that emphasize its complex union of superhuman and vulnerable qualities in a single individual, and discuss some of the questions I am currently asking about famous, fascinating, or enchanting people in historical texts. For the rest of my lecture, I describe the charismatic performances depicted in Peter Abelard’s Historia Calamitatum, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women, and two anonymous fourteenth-century romances, Emaré and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I touch on the use of models to bolster charismatic authority, the contrast between power and frailty, the workings of fame, and the use of props, clothing, and hair in charismatic performances.
*** The lectures will be held in English
