Who are we?
The driving force behind this event is a dynamic group of young doctoral researchers at Ghent University, all funded by FWO – Research Foundation Flanders. Tim Noens, Dinah Wouters, Maxim Rigaux and Thomas Velle focus in their research projects on Latin topics ranging from the 1st to the 18th century and in various geographical areas from Spain to Scandinavia. Their common interest in the correlation between Latin and other literatures resulted in the foundation of a new research group RELICS (Research of European Literary Identity, Cosmopolitanism and the Schools), of which this conference is the launching event.
What is RELICS?
The international and cooperative research group RELICS studies historical literatures and the dynamics that shape a common, European literary identity. We see this literary identity as particularly negotiated through languages that reached a cosmopolitan status due to fixed schooling systems (Latin, Greek and Arabic), and in their interaction with vernacular literatures. From a diachronic perspective, we aim to seek unity within the ever more diverse, literary Europe, from the first to the eighteenth century, i.e. from the beginning of (institutionally organized) education in the cosmopolitan language to the rise of more national oriented education.
Within this context, relics are elements from a literary past, as preserved in the canons, to which different periods and literatures ascribed varying values and interpretations. The metaphor, hereby, reflects the researchers’ aim to transgress national boundaries and search for a European literary identity.
The ‘Telling Tales Out of School’-conference will not only be the launching event of the research group, it will also be a great occasion for international researchers to get to know and even join RELICS.
Our website can be found here.
Advisory Board for ‘Telling Tales Out of School’
Anders Cullhed (Stockholm University), Rita Copeland (University of Pennsylvania), Françoise Waquet (CNRS), Karl Enenkel (University of Münster), Piet Gerbrandy (University of Amsterdam), Wim François (University of Leuven), Wim Verbaal (Ghent University), Koen de Temmerman (Ghent University) and Marco Formisano (Ghent University)
Partners
This conference is organized in collaboration with Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), the Ghent Institute for Classical Studies (GICS), the Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies, and the Group for Early Modern Studies (GEMS).
