Cuckoo for Cúchulainn: A Guide to Global Medieval Literature, with Kelly Williams

Today I am joined by medievalist Kelly Williams for a conversation on medieval literature. Kelly is a PhD candidate in Medieval English Literature at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and she’s also a close friend whom I’ve known for many years. So when I thought about doing a show on medieval lit, I knew she’d be the perfect person to go to.

One thing that has been a goal of this show since the beginning has been to talk about writing and art in a way that takes people beyond the most dominant or readily accessible popular culture. Or, at other times, to find connections between popular culture and less mainstream work. With medieval lit, we can do both of those things. While I’m sure my audience knows the legends of King Arthur or The Canterbury Tales, how well do you know The Vinland Sagas or Irish epic The Tain? And since “medieval” can be a vague and often Eurocentric term, what about what the rest of the world was writing in that very long period that loosely spans the middle of the first millennium to the middle of the second? To help us all expand our awareness of the world’s great epics, romances, poetry, and more, Kelly is here with a huge list of recommendations, and whether you’re used to reading older writing or not, chances are you’ll hear something that piques your interest.

We also spend a little time discussing some of the current issues in the medieval studies world, one of which is the work to make it more inclusive. For example, one of the largest scholarly associations in the field, the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, recently voted to change its name in an effort to thwart internal racism and sexism. (For more information on that, you can listen to this episode of Remixing the Humanities.) This conversation also comes at a time when white supremacists are increasingly adopting symbols from the Middle Ages as signs of a supposed (and historically-inaccurate) "white" heritage. In this kind of climate, what is the role of a medieval scholar when it comes to helping the public stay informed and combating those who try to twist history to promote narratives of hate and violence? We didn’t get a chance to go in depth on this subject, but it’s worth noting that part of the reason reading older texts is so important is for how they keep us culturally literate and undo both stereotypes and more malicious rewritings of the past.

Oh, and we also talk about Spider-Man and his connection to medieval stories, too. How so? Well, you’ll have to listen to find out, but be warned that there are some spoilers for the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse when we get to that point.

---And here's a list of all the texts recommended in this episode:

Juliana
Andreas
Vis and Ramin
The Mabinogian
The Tain
The Vinland Sagas
Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness
The Travels of Marco Polo
Shahnameh
The Mirror of My Heart: A Thousand Years of Persian Poetry by Women
The Arabian Nights
Sunjata
Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan African
Poems of the Masters
The Tale of Genji
The Confessions of Lady Nijo
Popol Vuh
The Secret of Kells

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