Research
For the Dissertation:
The Welsh Law of Women, Studies Presented to Professor Daniel A. Binchy, ed. Dafydd Jenkins and Morfydd E. Owen
Ireland and Wales in the Middle Ages, eds. Karen Jankulak and Jonathan M. Wooding
Beowulf, Liuzza second edition facing-page translation (Broadview)
Hugh Magennis, Images of Community in Old English Poetry
Michael J. Enright, Lady With a Mead Cup
For thinking about Text Technologies in conjunction with the Stanford seminar:
M.B. Parkes, Scribes, Scripts and Readers: Studies in the Communication, Presentation, and Dissemination of Medieval Texts (Hambledon Press, 1991)
David Finkelstein and Alistair McCleery, eds., The Book History Reader (Routledge, 2002)
(Sadly, this is the last week of the seminar, but there is a Part II right around the corner in April!)
For the Folger seminar:
Steve Mentz, At the Bottom of Shakespeare’s Ocean
Peregrine Horden & Nicholas Purcell, The Corrupting Sea ch. 8
William Shakespeare, King Lear
Raphael Holinshed, King Lear section of the 1577 Chronicles
(Sadly, we were snowed out of our seminar this week, but we’ve rescheduled this session for a date in April.)
Writing
500 word summary of my dissertation for a fellowship I’m applying for
5,000 words on the draft of my dissertation chapter on violent feasts in medieval texts–it was a very productive writing week, for a change!
Teaching
On Monday, we looked at St. George Tucker’s “A Dream on Bridecake” and “A Second Dream on Bridecake” through student-led class discussions. Wednesday they sat their midterm examination. I began thinking about how to re-structure my Introduction to Narrative course for an online format, and began drafting a syllabus for English 210, Literature and the Arts, which will focus on “Medieval Afterlives.”
Service
GSA office hours, and I attended the Faculty Senate meeting in my capacity as a graduate student representative.
Other Scholarly Activity
I reviewed and commented on the first drafts of book reviews for the new issue of Hortulus, and began reading the book I’m meant to be reviewing for this issue.
Nurturing My Self
I ran on Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday. Yesterday (Sunday) we went for an hour’s walk because it was so sunny and beautiful outside that not taking advantage of it would have been a crime against Natura. A local grocery store had really fantastic strawberries on sale, so we splurged for one of my favorite treats, strawberries and vanilla ice cream. I think that it is possible that strawberries were put on this Earth expressly to be sliced over vanilla ice cream. I have been nursing a sinus thing, which has neither gotten worse nor better, but which has sent me to bed a little more this week than normal–which in the end has turned out to be a good thing, because I hadn’t realized how exhausted I was until I slept ten hours straight and woke up ready to conquer the world (or, at least, draft dissertation chapters all day long!) Binged on “New Girl” on Saturday and Sunday nights–it’s so ridiculous that I can’t help but be entertained.
Melissa Ridley Elmes 