Early Modern Realisms Working Group
About the Working Group:
Early modern artistic and literary interest in life in all its forms testified, in its many registers, also to the emergence of a new, urban middle class, a group which aimed to define itself both by examining what it was or wished to be, and what it was not. In the art and literature of this period we thus observe innovations aimed to incorporate this new thread into the tapestry of life, characterized by a multivalence of realisms across the spectrum of human experiences. Social, economic, marital, psychological, emotional, and cultural realisms offer converging studies of life in all its depth, not merely mimetic but metaphysical.
Our working group proposes to explore what early modern realisms meant, how they can be defined and what purposes they fulfilled, as well as how they compare to both medieval and post 18th-century studies of reality. We will explore the relationship between truth, authenticity, realism, and mimeticism as expressed in the art and literature of early modern Europe, with focus on England and the Netherlands. We will cover, among other topics, questions of epistemological and emotional realism, critique of societies and personality types, “inversive self-definitions”, and realisms of nature and their function in art; schedule will be moderated according to the interests of the participants.
Organizers: Matt Kavaler and Joanna Miles
Meeting Schedule:
Meetings will be hosted monthly on Fridays from 10am to 1pm in Pratt 304.
Session 1
Friday, September 18, 10am–1pm, Pratt 304
Session 2
Friday, October 9, 10am–1pm, Pratt 304
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Friar’s Prologue and Tale
Robert Myles, “Chaucerian Realism” (Download)
Session 3
Friday, November 20, 10am–1pm, Pratt 304
Session 4
Friday, January 22, 10am–1pm, Pratt 304
Session 5
Friday, February 19, 10am–1pm, Pratt 304
Session 6
Friday, March 19, 10am–1pm, Pratt 304
Interested in Joining?
We are actively recruiting new members from all disciplines!
Please contact Matt Kavaler at matt.kavaler@utoronto.ca to express your interest or learn more about upcoming meeting dates.
