Monday, February 19, 2007
Passmore to discuss “Age, Ugliness, and Women’s Counsel in Medieval Literature”
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Dr. Elizabeth Passmore, assistant professor of English, will present a College of Liberal Arts Colloquium, “‘A mouthe fulle wide and foulle y-grown’: Age, Ugliness, and Women’s Counsel in Medieval Literature,” at 3:30 p.m. Friday, March 2, in Kleymeyer Hall in the Liberal Arts Center. Passmore’s research is concerned with a motif in medieval literature in which a woman who first appears ugly or monstrous transforms into a great beauty. The quote in the title of the colloquium comes from a Middle English poem, “The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle,” in which the lady is described as foul and horrible, with teeth like boar’s tusks, gray hairs, and lips “lumped on her chin.” “The term that’s been used for her in English literary scholarship is the Loathly Lady,” Passmore said. “Several female characters from late medieval English narratives magically transform from ugliness to beauty. These Loathly Ladies also give significant counsel to their heroes before their transformation, and their appearance is usually described in terms of old age.” The colloquium will focus on why the English Loathly Lady is usually old when she proffers her counsel. It builds on Passmore’s conference paper for the 2005 Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo, Michigan, “Old Wise Women: Loathly Ladies and Counsel in Late Medieval Romance,” and her dissertation, which contrasts early Irish narratives with later medieval English texts to focus on the transforming woman’s counsel and advice. “What exactly is going on in late medieval English culture with perceptions of old age? Women in the medieval period weren’t necessarily regarded as people who were capable of giving advice. Moreover, old, especially poor, women were by and large feared and considered to be dangerous. So why would the medieval poet have an old, poor woman give advice?” Passmore will address that question in her colloquium, focusing on perceptions of age in the late medieval period. Passmore joined the University in fall 2005. She was formerly an instructor of English at the University of Connecticut-Storrs. She has a Ph.D. and a Master of Arts degree in medieval studies from the University of Connecticut, a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, and Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. She is a member of the Medieval Academy of America, the Celtic Studies Association of North America, and the New Chaucer Society. For more information contact Dr. Teresa Huerta, associate professor of Spanish, at 812/465-7053. |
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