SEMINAR - HYBRID EVENT: Crossing Borders in the World of King Arthur
- Date: 7 April 2022, 16:15–18:00
- Location: SCAS, SCAS, Linnéanum, Thunbergssalen, Thunbergsvägen 2 Uppsala
- Type: Seminar
- Lecturer: Sofia Lodén, Pro Futura Scientia Fellow, SCAS. Associate Professor of French, Stockholm University
- Web page
- Organiser: Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS)
- Contact person: Klas Holm
Sofia Lodén, SCAS and Stockholm University, gives a seminar on "Crossing Borders in the World of King Arthur". The talk will be followed by a Q&A session.
Abstract
The legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is associated with chivalric adventures, love stories and enchanted landscapes. It evokes fairy tales and fantasy and has been described as relatively far from the real world, reflecting ideals of the aristocracy rather than a societal reality. Yet, many Arthurian romances also show a strong interest in the external world, not least by depicting journeys throughout medieval Europe – in Brittany, England and Wales, but also in Greece, Ireland, Scandinavia and Sicily. Cultural and geographical peripheries are thus drawn into the Arthurian world, at the same time as the legend itself spreads to the European peripheries through translation. In my seminar, I will draw attention to the ways in which the Arthurian tradition crossed various borders and argue that it contributed to the creation of a cultural European community. I will discuss how romances crossed cultural and linguistic borders through translation and adaptation and how these same romances, written in different languages, describe protagonists who cross cultural and geographical borders.
For more information and the webinar link, please see http://www.swedishcollegium.se/subfolders/Events.html.