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CFP: ‘Contesting Authenticity in Literature, 1200-1700’
March 30, 2023 - March 31, 2023
A two-day interdisciplinary conference on 30-31 March 2023 at Senate House, University of London, WC1E 7HU, in-person and online.
Call for Papers
This two-day conference will explore the concept of “contesting authenticity” in later medieval and early modern literature. The boundaries of authenticity are not clear in these periods: does a continuation or supplement of an earlier text count as inauthentic? How do explicit forgeries compare with accidental misattributions? Is it more authentic to claim another’s work as your own (plagiarism) or to ascribe your work to another (forgery)? How authentic is the act of translating? These questions deal with the authenticity of literature: what about issues of truth in literature (such as narrative authenticity)?
Authenticity is not a stable concept. Texts considered genuine may then come to be contested, and presumed fakes are sometimes reevaluated. Both medieval and modern readers engaged with, and are still engaging with, the practice of contesting authenticity. Therefore, as well as exploring the production of inauthentic texts, this conference must also examine their ongoing reception.
Central to this conference is an examination of the language we use across disciplines and approaches to (attempt to) define authenticity. Is it possible to define the boundaries of the authentic across such a contested topic?
The scope of this conference is broad, welcoming a variety of literature across languages, disciplines, and time.
Further details are available on the event page: https://authenticity2023.wordpress.com/
Preliminary Conference Information
All speakers will present in-person. For attendees, registration will be open for both in-person and online attendance. Both in-person and online attendance will be free. A small number of bursaries will be available for speakers and attendees, the details of which will be announced soon.
This conference is organised by Rebecca Menmuir (Queen Mary, University of London) in association with the Institute of English Studies (IES) and is supported by the British Academy.