Over His Dead Body
Kings Manor, University of York, 26-27 March 2015
Call for Papers
The legal battle between Leicester and York over the remains of Richard III came to an end in May 2014 with a High Court ruling that the last Plantagenet king is to be buried in Leicester Cathedral. This hard-fought, sometimes acrimonious, dispute over bones found in a municipal car park presented a fascinating spectacle; a modern, even postmodern, restaging of the medieval myth of the king’s two bodies. The King is dead; long live the King.
In this research workshop, York and Leicester put their differences aside - or rather, bring them together in memory and celebration of the historical figure who inspired one of Shakespeare's most popular incarnations. To mark the occasion of Richard's reinterment on March 26, 2015, the Department of English and Related Literature at York and the School of Modern Languages at Leicester invite proposals for a research workshop that will explore the significance of the Shakespearean dead body on page, stage and screen. Participants will be invited to join the audience at a memorial lecture in York Minster on March 26, followed by the research workshop at Kings Manor - a seat of Tudor government in northern England - on Friday March 27.
Perhaps even more so than the ghost, the Shakespearian dead body raises fundamental questions about space, place, and belonging and about the powers that shape its medial and intermedial exhumations and reinterments. We invite proposals for 15-minute presentations offering textual readings of Shakespearian bodies, including but not only Richard, either in the Shakespearian text, or in modern or contemporary production and performance. Topics might include the following:
· ‘The body is with the king, but the king is not with the body’: where do we find, or look for, the Shakespearian dead body?
· ‘Look on her. Look, her lips’: the Shakespearian dead body as ‘sight’ or image; its embodiment in or by performance, and/or in other cultures.
· ‘O gentlemen, see, see! Dead Henry’s wounds Ope their congealed mouths and bleed afresh!’ What is at stake in the physical confrontation of the dead with the living?
· What does the Shakespearian dead body lose, or gain, in translation or remediation?
· How have particular productions or performances used the Shakespearian dead body to ask questions about the ‘world’ outside the play?
· What motivates contemporary artists, directors, translators and academics to contribute to these re-incarnations?
· How is the Shakespearian dead body given value in non-cultural institutions (the State, science, the press)?
Inter- or multi-disciplinary perspectives are welcome. Proposals featuring abstracts of up to 250 words in English and a short biographical description should be sent in word format (doc. or .docx) to both organizers by January 5 2015. Please put ‘Over His Dead Body proposal’ in the subject line of your e-mail.
Nicole Fayard, University of Leicester: nicole.fayard@le.ac.uk
Erica Sheen, University of York: erica.sheen@york.ac.uk