Session 6b: Then and Now, Now and Then
3rd Global Conference
Thursday 15th March – Saturday 17th March 2012
Prague, Czech Republic
Urban Before Urban: Fantasies of Class in Middle English Romance
Hannah Priest
University of Manchester, UK
This paper examines two Middle English romances that might (with some qualification) be described as ‘urban’ fantasies. Substantial sections of Octavian and Sir Launfal (both written in the fourteenth century) take place in towns, and contain interactions between chivalric and non-chivalric characters. This leads to an emphasis on material goods and, in some parts of the narratives, on cold, hard cash, that is at odds with the usual chivalric world of Middle English romance. The young Florent (in Octavian) and Thomas Chestre’s Sir Launfal both rely for their material survival on members of the mercantile, or ‘bourgeois’, classes, and both are forced to evaluate how it is possible to be a knight if one does not have the financial resources. However, despite this focus on the urban and mercantile ‘reality’ often obscured in late medieval chivalric romance, both knights leave the towns and return to the more well-trodden ground of the forest and the castle in order to fight menacing giants. There is some suggestion in these texts that the ‘gigantomachia’ is a truer test of essential knightly identity than the acquisition of material goods. Nevertheless, this paper argues that it is in the episodes of gigantomachia that the knight’s reliance on the mercantile classes is most keenly expressed. The giant – so completely removed from the urban world of the merchant – might be seen as grotesquely exaggerated chivalric identity; in order to defeat such a foe, Launfal and Florent are integrated more fully into the ‘real’ world, and are reliant upon both chivalric and non-chivalric allies. Ultimately, these narratives both undermine romance fantasies of class, and create new fantasy worlds in which to situate their knightly heroes.
Use of Magic as a Medium of Communication: Testamony of the Mahavansa
Isha Gamlath
Dept. of Classics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
The Buddhas apply their iddhi, psychic potential as a device to communicate with members of an inferior culture in Sri Lanka ( Mahavamsa,1.24-31;15.61-63;95-97;129-131).Their entrance in to the island the objective of which is conversion by way of the circulation of Buddhism, though restricted to the domain of myth, is foundational for its perpetuation as state religion. Their concerns are genuine and so is their application of iddhi for communication.
This paper explores, first the underlying issues pertaining to the manipulation of magic and the extent to which it is responsible for the circulation of an original system of thought the identity of which is integral in Sinhalese culture to date and second the emergence of magic from its mythical context to reality.
Not Brains, Just Voodoo: A Zombie in Disney’s Donald Duck Comics
Katja Kontturi
Contemporary culture studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Popular culture has brought us fast raving zombies who feast not solely on human brains but also in their flesh turning everyone they wound into one of them. These days the more traditional zombies based on ancient Haitian voodoo are rare creatures. However, one of the biggest products of popular culture has delivered one traditional zombie and that is Disney’s Donald Duck comics.
Bombie the zombie was first introduced to the readers of Donald Duck by Carl Barks, the noted Disney artist who has created most of the important characters of Duckburg – Scrooge McDuck for instance. In a comic “Voodoo Hoodoo” (1949), Bombie had a spell on him to bring a voodoo doll to Scrooge from the deep Africa all the way to Duckburg. Mistaken Donald as Scrooge, Bombie gave Donald the voodoo doll and put the shrinking curse upon him.
The second time the zombie appears is in a comic “The Empire-Builder from Calisota” (1994) by Don Rosa, one of the most famous of the contemporary Disney artists. His tale tells how Bombie the zombie originally came to chase Scrooge McDuck for his devious deeds to an African tribe in the past. Rosa also shows the zombie in a third comic in which he’s part of Scrooge McDuck’s dream narrative.
Barks’ creation, Bombie the zombie, is a tranquil being filling its purpose in life. He is not after brains but to find the right person and punish him from mischievous acts he did to an innocent tribe – just like the shaman of the tribe bewitched Bombie to do. Barks created the zombie to represent among others the racial questions of his time, but in the more recent comics Bombie can be seen representing also the conscience of a certain duck.
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