Just to twist a couple of arms at this late date:
CFP: 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 13-16, 2010
Special Session, "Susanna and the Elders: Medieval to Early Modern"
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The story of Susanna and the Elders has always been a little suspect.
After all, its sources weren't Hebrew, but Greek. In Jerome's edition it
wasn't even considered part of the true Bible: instead, it appears as an
appendix to the Book of Daniel. But the story's association with the
prophet Daniel, and its vivid, economical--even miraculous, narrative
made it a lively model for the moral inculcation of youth, especially
young women.
Why Susanna? Susanna's plot is inherently dramatic. It lends itself to
an easy excuse to portray the female nude. Its emphasis on the strength
of faith alone makes it popular with reformers of all denominations, and
the crux of its plot hangs on how the testimony of witnesses is
collected--and the importance of a tree. To us today, the story appeals
to interests from a range of disciplines--literary study, legal history,
art history, codicology.
Given 'her' popularity and profusion across the 14th, 15th and 16th
centuries and across media, it is unusual that so little scholarship has
been devoted to that model of a good woman who refused any compromise
with her virtue. In an effort to redress that deficiency, we've proposed
a session on the story of Susanna and the Elders, to put 'Susanna' on
trial, so to speak. We hope to gather scholars from across fields and
periods who are focusing on this story to generate a cross-disciplinary
exchange to explore 'her' variations, be it in prose, poetry, drama, or art.
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Abstracts welcome. Contact Terry Wade, [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> or Jamie Taylor, [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> for further information, or to submit an
abstract.
--
Abigail Ann Young (Dr), Associate Editor/ Records of Early English Drama/
Victoria College/ 150 Charles Street W/ Toronto Ontario Canada
Phone (416) 585-4504/ FAX (416) 813-4093/ [log in to unmask]
List-owner of REED-L <http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/reed-l.html>
http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/ => REED's home page
http://www.reed.utoronto.ca/stage.html => our Web guide
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~young => my home page
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