Free at last…

And so the week draws to a weary close. I've delivered major lectures on Cultural Studies, Modernity and now a two hour blockbuster on All Of Medieval Literature, History And Culture, 450-1485 and I'm tired.

I hope the lecture was OK. There's so much material to discuss and much of it will never be mentioned again on the English degree, so I try to at least give the names of stunning work: Beowulf and 'The Seafarer' are given some attention, and Chaucer, but I also rammed in Layamon's Brut, Gerald of Wales, the Decameron, Gerusalemme Liberata, Gawain and the Green Knight, La Morte D'Arthur, La Chanson de Roland, miracle plays, morality plays, mystery plays, Everyman and all sorts of others, all sweetened with multiple clips from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, though I didn't have time for these two, on the French and on medieval politics.

Now that's what I call typography!

From Hyperotomachia Poliphili, a weird 1499 semi-erotic dream narrative which is notable not just for its content and unpronounceable name, but because it's the first perfected Roman type by Aldus Manutius, grandfather of typography. Mmm…

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A brief tour

I gave a lecture on all of Medieval literature and history today - 1000 years in 59 minutes. That's under 6 minutes per century!