Malory Imagines the State
| Dates: | 3 December 2015 |
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| Times: | 17:30 - 18:45 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | John Rylands Research Institute |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Adults, Alumni, Current University students |
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| Speaker: | Dr Elliot Kendal |
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What do Malory’s Merlin and the lawyer and political theorist Sir John Fortescue have in common? The state. This paper considers the political meaning of Malory’s Arthuriad and argues that Arthur’s new polity is state-like. Arthurian state power is rooted in Merlin’s revolutionary moves early in the story, is presented as radically dangerous, and is critiqued against the personal politics of Malory’s champion knights. The paper prioritizes Caxton’s Malory, surviving almost uniquely in the John Rylands Library, as the most widely read Malory of the early Tudor decades when Fortescue’s vision of the state was drawing closer to reality.
Speaker
Dr Elliot Kendal
Role: Senior Lecturer
Organisation: University of Exeter
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Historic Reading Room
John Rylands Research Institute and Library
150 Deansgate
Manchester
Gtr Manchester
