The Medieval Seminar: Stijn Praet

Seminar

Date: Monday 31 October 2022

Time: 15.00 – 17.00

Location: D900 and zoom

“Horace Once Composed an Ode”: Homoeroticism as a Medieval Literary Mode

The Medieval Seminar presents Stijn Praet from Ghent University.

Monday 31 October in D900 and via zoom. Link: https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/69017309348.

Abstract: The European Middle Age are not exactly known today for a positive attitude towards erotic relations between men. Indeed, sodomy was officially considered a sin by clerical authorities and, though mostly from the 14th century onward, even a criminal offence. It may seem all the more surprising, then, that the period known as the ‘long twelfth century’ nonetheless produced a decent amount of homo-erotic Latin poetry, composed and openly circulated by students, schoolmasters, monks and bishops. This presentation will offer a brief introduction to this corpus and its central themes, also considering the reasons for its very existence. Moreover, it will reflect on what it takes to bring such medieval texts to contemporary audiences through the act of translation

About Stijn Praet