Call for Papers - Leeds International Medieval Congress - 5-8 July 2027

CFP: BOETHIUS AND COMMUNITIES

The International Boethius Society is an organisation which has, since 1992, promoted scholarship on all aspects of the work, influence and age of Boethius, especially through the IBS journal, Carmina Philosophiae.

The challenges of how properly to critique, rethink, make and organise a community and not least how to be a virtuous member of one – are central to the problematics, authority and distinctiveness of Boethius’s De consolatione philosophiae and the tradition it brought about throughout medieval Europe over several centuries. For the proposed session(s), focusing on the IMC 2027 theme of Communities, we warmly invite papers from all disciplinary perspectives on any aspect of communities relating to Boethian tradition. Proposals falling outside this theme are also invited.

Please submit an abstract of no more than 200 words and a short biography of no more than 150 words to Ian Johnson irj@st-andrews.ac.uk by 23 September. All proposals should include your name, e-mail address and academic affiliation. Proposals are welcome from researchers at any career stage. Please address any queries to Ian Johnson at the above e-mail address.

Sponsor: International Boethius Society

Organiser: Ian Johnson, University of St Andrews

Call for Papers - ICMS at Kalamazoo - 2027

The International Boethius Society is delighted to announce its two sponsored panels for the ICMS at Kalamazoo next May! Abstracts are due September 15th. 

Boethius as "Last of the Romans, First of the Scholastics" (submit proposal here) 

Boethius’s position as a transitional figure, situated on the boundary between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, is the focus of this session, which invites papers that address his liminal historical position. Possible topics include his contributions to the liberal arts curriculum; his role in theological and political controversies; his biography and its dissemination; his tomb and local cult in Pavia; the textual transmission of his works; his translation projects from Greek into Latin; and the vernacular translation tradition of his final work De consolatione philosophiae. 

Literary Reception of Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae (submit proposal here) 

This session addresses the multi-faceted influence of the Consolatio on medieval Latin and vernacular writers such as Dante, Alain de Lille, Guillaume de Machaut, Gower, and Chaucer. Papers are welcome on such topics as their use of prosimetric form; deployment of the trope of Fortune and her wheel; engagement with the work’s philosophical argumentation; and use of allegory. This robust reception history continues in the works of modern-day writers influenced by medievalism, and papers are equally welcome on the Boethian resonances of works such as C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce and John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces.