Notre Dame professor to discuss Old English poetry at UT Arlington

by PegNews wire

Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe, a leading scholar in Anglo-Saxon studies, will lecture at the University of Texas at Arlington at noon Wednesday, Feb. 20, in the sixth floor parlor of the Central Library (702 Planetarium Place).

The lecture will explore the expression of agency in traditional Old English poetry, using the "Wife's Lament" as the exemplary text. She pursues the radical split between the early medieval apprehension of agency (grounded in obedience to divine and secular authority) and notions of agency in the present moment (primarily aggregating around transgression).

The issues of agency and transgression, the role and definition of poetry, traditional or religious discourse, affect and emotion and feminism/female voice in literature transcend the confines of the medieval period.

O'Keeffe focuses on cultural transmission, editing in manuscript cultures, and early medieval subjectivity and has produced the standard scholarly edition of the “C manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.”

She is the author of the book “Visible Song,” which significantly impacted understanding of the interactions of orality and literacy within the field of medieval studies and beyond. O’Brien O’Keeffe’s lecture is drawn from her current project on identity and agency in early medieval England.

A display of manuscript facsimiles and reproductions of medieval artifacts in the library foyer will coincide with the lecture, which is free and open to the public. Contact Jacqueline Stodnick, assistant professor of English, at stodnick@uta.edu or (817) 272-1329 for more information.

Posted by Chad / source: UTA