L'Agenda des Médiévistes

(English version below)

Développées depuis le IXe siècle en Europe, les légendes du roi Arthur, du sorcier Merlin et des chevaliers de la Table ronde continuent de s’épanouir aujourd’hui dans le monde entier, notamment à travers des réécritures et des adaptations de Fantasy. Qu’il s’agisse du roman pédagogique The Sword in the Stone (1938) de T.H. White, de l’étonnante version anime de King Arthur (1979-1980), de la réécriture féministe de Marion Zimmer Bradley dans Les Dames du Lac (1983), ou du Cycle initiatique de Merlin (2003-2018), centré sur une lecture celte et proposé en bande dessinée par Jean-Luc Istin et Eric Lambert, la Fantasy puise très régulièrement dans les différentes facettes des légendes arthuriennes pour en interroger la pérennité et la pertinence aujourd’hui. Le grand nombre de personnages et de créatures mythologiques, ainsi que le caractère universel des thèmes abordés – comme l’amitié, la trahison, le pouvoir –, permettent aux légendes arthuriennes d’être adaptées à tous les contextes historiques et géographiques, ainsi qu’à toutes les atmosphères, de la fantasy historique de la Saga du roi Arthur de Bernard Cornwell (1995-1997) à la light fantasy de Sacré Graal ! des Monty Python (1975) et de Shrek le Troisième (2007). L’ajout de personnages originaux dans l’environnement royal, comme la jeune Ana dans L’Apprentie de Merlin de Fabien Clavel (2010-2013), permet de déplacer l’action tout en restant fidèle à un cadre familier – qui plaît tant aux lecteurs.

Qu’apporte le roi Arthur aux œuvres de Fantasy ? L’intérêt des légendes tirées du Moyen Âge réside-t-il dans leur universalité, ou au contraire dans ce qu’elles ont de surprenant pour le lecteur contemporain ? Comment les thèmes épiques et magiques, si chers à la Fantasy, sont-ils articulés pour satisfaire le lectorat des XIXe, XXe et XXIe siècles ? Quel est le rôle des réécritures modifiant la perspective, et apportant par exemple le point de vue des méchants traditionnels, comme Mordred et Morgane ?

Pour son 7e numéro, la revue Fantasy Art and Studies cherche à explorer les représentations et les usages des légendes arthuriennes dans toute l’étendue de la Fantasy – littérature, bande dessinée, cinéma, télévision, jeux vidéo, transmédia, etc.

Les propositions d’articles pourront, sans s’y limiter, aborder les thèmes suivants :

• Le lien entre la Fantasy arthurienne et l’iconographie et les textes médiévaux ;
• Les raisons et les enjeux de la pérennité des légendes arthuriennes dans les productions de Fantasy contemporaine ;
• L’association ou la séparation des thèmes épiques et magiques ;
• L’évolution des rôles de certains personnages, notamment les figures féminines

Les articles, d’une longueur de 30.000 signes maximum (espaces et notes comprises), en français ou en anglais, sont à envoyer au format .doc, Times New Roman corps 12, interligne simple, pour le 22 juin 2019, à l’adresse suivante : fantasyartandstudies@outlook.com

King Arthur’s Fantasy

Shared and amplified since the 9th century, the legends of King Arthur, the sorcerer Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table keep being developed today in the whole world, especially in fantasy rewritings and adaptations. From T.H. White’s educational novel The Sword in the Stone (1938), to the surprising anime version King Arthur (1979-1980), from Marion Zimmer Bradley’s feminist rewriting The Mists of Avalon (1983), to the Celtic reading established by Jean-Luc Istin and Eric Lambert in their comics Cycle initiatique de Merlin (2003-2018), fantasy regularly draws from the different aspects of the Arthurian legends, as a way to question their permanence and their relevance today. The great number of characters and mythological creatures, the importance of universal themes such as friendship, betrayal, and power, all these allow the Arthurian legends to be adapted to every historical and geographical context – and to every atmosphere, from historic fantasy like Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles (1995-1997) to the light fantasy of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) or Shrek the Third (2007). Adding new characters to the environment of the royal court, like young Ana in Fabien Clavel’s L’Apprentie de Merlin (2010-2013), is a traditional way of shifting the narrative but remaining faithful to a familiar setting – enjoyed by the readers.

What does King Arthur bring to fantasy? Does the interest of medieval legends lie in their universality, or on the contrary in the way they surprise the contemporary reader? How are the complementary themes of epic and magic, inherent to fantasy, connected to please the 19th, 20th or 21st century reader? What is the point of rewriting well-known stories by shifting the perspective, and developing the point of view of traditionally evil characters such as Mordred and Morgan?

For its 7th issue, Fantasy Art and Studies seeks to explore the representations and uses of the Arthurian legends in fantasy – in literature, comics, movies, TV series, video games, transmedia studies, etc.

Papers could tackle the following topics, without being limited to them:

• The link between Arthurian fantasy and medieval sources (texts and images);
• The reasons and issues of the permanence of Arthurian legends in contemporary fantasy works;
• The association or separation of epic and magic themes;
• The evolution of some characters, especially female characters.

Papers will not exceed 30.000 signs (space and endnotes included). They will be written in English or French, and sent in .doc format, Times New Roman 12pts, single-line spacing, before June 22nd, 2019, to fantasyartandstudies@outlook.com

Source : Fantasy Art and Studies

All Souls College, University of Oxford

Friday 12 July 2019

‘War does not determine who is right – only who is left.’

Bertrand Russell

Existing scholarship on the history of war has often suffered from the self-limiting scope of past military historians. Frequently monopolised by a Eurocentric fixation on the hyper-masculine battlefield, this entrenched modus operandi of military history has long stifled alternative insights into the wider repercussions of war and violence. The inaugural ‘New Voices in the History of War’ conference held in July 2018 demonstrated that we have much to gain from opening the field to fresh outlooks, innovative approaches, and new understandings of how histories of war can be (re-)defined. This new one-day conference seeks to build upon the encouraging success of last year’s event by bringing together diverse representatives of this exciting new research. The conference aims to stimulate discussions regarding the future of the history of war as a broad interdisciplinary enterprise, and ultimately intends to facilitate the official establishment of a new ‘Society for the History of War’. We invite doctoral students and early career researchers to submit papers on any aspect of warfare across all periods and places. Non-historians who have an interdisciplinary connection to the study of war are also warmly encouraged.

Potential themes may include, but are not limited to:

• Past and future developments in the historiography of war
• Cultural and artistic depictions of warfare, including popular culture
• Comparative global approaches to conflict and conflict studies
• War on all fronts: land, sea, and air
• Intersectional histories (including race, gender, sexuality, disability)
• The medical history of warfare
• Previously under-studied conflict events
• War, affect, and emotions
• Destruction and reconstruction
• Terrorist warfare and the War on Terror
• Fiscal-military states
• Memory studies and the ‘narrativizing’ of war
• Military technologies, their representation and their impact on war and society
• Conflict resolution and conflict prevention

The conference will be held at All Souls College (University of Oxford) on Friday 12 July 2019. Registration fee of £25 for members of the Society for the History of War, and of £35 for non-members.

Anonymised abstracts of up to 300 words should be submitted by March 12^th to newvoicesconference2019@gmail.com.