The View From Kalamazoo

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Summer 2008 Research Seminar on Extreme Materialist Medieval Manuscript Studies at the University of Iowa, June 2-13, 2008. Director: Jonathan Wilcox.

UP TO 10 FELLOWSHIPS to participate in The University of Iowa Obermann Center for Advanced Studies 2008 Research Seminar in “Medieval Manuscript Studies and Contemporary Book Arts: Extreme Materialist Readings of Medieval Books,” June 2-13, 2008.

This seminar will bring together contemporary book artists specializing in medieval-inspired techniques of papermaking, bookbinding, and calligraphy, among others, with medievalists whose scholarship depends upon a knowledge of the intimate physical details of medieval manuscript production. Participants will bring to the seminar the draft of an unpublished essay that models extreme materialist readings of a medieval book as a case study that will be discussed by all of the seminar participants, each bringing his or her own expertise. Seminar participants will have access to papermaking, bookbinding, and scribal facilities for modeling some of the underlying issues. The seminar will result in an essay collection that will exemplify what can be achieved in the field of medieval manuscript studies through such extreme attentiveness to the material.

Deadline for application: Wednesday, January 30, 2008. Those participants selected to join the seminar will be offered a stipend of $1,500 along with expenses. For more information and application details, please see the attached flyer or visit the UI Obermann Center for Advanced Studies website at http://www.uiowa.edu/obermann/medievalbooks. Direct any questions to Obermann Center Administrator, Neda Barrett ([email protected], 319-335-4034) or to Jonathan Wilcox ([email protected]).