Institute for Medieval Studies

Session	1501
Title	Riddling in Anglo-Saxon England and Beyond, I: Engaging with the Physical World
Date/Time	Thursday 9 July 2015: 09.00-10.30
Sponsor	The Riddle Ages: An Anglo-Saxon Riddle Blog
Organiser	Megan Cavell, Department of English Literature, University of Birmingham
	Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Moderator/Chair	Megan Cavell, Department of English Literature, University of Birmingham
Paper 1501-a	Encounters of the Third Kind: Materiality and Some Exeter Book Riddles (Language: English) Pirkko Koppinen, Kingston School of Art, Kingston University London Index Terms: Daily Life; Language and Literature - Old English; Language and Literature - Other
Paper 1501-b	Shields and Other Animals: Riddling Approaches to the Natural World in Early Scandinavia (Language: English) Hannah Burrows, Centre for Scandinavian Studies, University of Aberdeen Index Terms: Daily Life; Language and Literature - Scandinavian
Paper 1501-c	Models of Mutation and Mutilation in Anglo-Saxon Riddles (Language: English) Cameron Laird, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto Index Terms: Language and Literature - Latin; Language and Literature - Old English
Abstract	The papers in Session 1 include discussions of Old English, Old Norse, and Anglo-Latin riddles. They are united by a focus on the ways in which material reality is represented by these texts. Thus Koppinen explores the insights into Anglo-Saxon material objects gained by attempting to translate the riddles into Finnish, Burrows examines the use of humour and wordplay to reflect on early Scandinavians’ relationship with the world, and Laird compares the Exeter Book’s riddles about the transformation of natural materials with Anglo-Latin sources and analogues.