IAS Book Launch: Medieval Twitter

ABOUT THE BOOK
This pioneering monograph provocatively explodes current research paradigms for the modern and the medieval by showing that Twitter shares key similarities with medieval literary forms, texts, and narrative techniques. Analyzing tweets with medieval texts, and vice versa, Spencer-Hall initiates readers into an innovative methodology of interdisciplinary literary criticism, posing vital questions about the politics of medievalism today. Chapters include brand-new readings of The Owl and the Nightingale, the Chastelaine de Vergi, and Marie de France’s Laüstic, and arresting insights into troubadour style, Margery Kempe, and #MedievalTwitter. The book culminates in a medieval(ist) reading of Twitter’s premature demise, and Elon Musk’s medievalism. Throughout, points of contact and divergence are dissected, re-contextualizing the socio-cultural meaning of communication and texts across the temporal divide.

ABOUT THE EVENT
The event will be hosted at the Institute of Advanced Studies as well as online on Zoom.
A short introduction of the book will be followed by a conversation with the author, Alicia Spencer-Hall, about the book, its origins and why it matters now.

We are delighted that a limited number of hardcopies of the book will be available for purchase for £50 at the launch. This is a 60% discount off the list price! Discounted copies can only be purchased if reserved in advance, by sending an email to Alicia Spencer-Hall ([email protected]) by 19 December 2024. You will be able pay by card online (PayPal) at the launch itself. If you are an online attendee, you may also reserve a reduced hardcopy, and will be able to pay for the book and for shipping online on the launch day.

Get in the mood with the Medieval Twitter playlist on Spotify! Medieval Twitter - playlist by Sticker Church | Spotify

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alicia Spencer-Hall's is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London. Her research interests include: medieval hagiography, disability, gender, digital culture, and film and media studies. Her first monograph, Medieval Saints and Modern Screens: Divine Visions as Cinematic Experience was published by Amsterdam University Press in 2018, and is now available Open Access. Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography, a collection co-edited with Blake Gutt, was published in 2021. Shortlisted for the Transgender Non-Fiction award at the 34th Lambda Literary Awards, the volume is now also available Open Access. Disability and Sanctity in the Middle Ages, a collection co-edited with Stephanie Grace-Petinos and Leah Pope Parker, is forthcoming with Amsterdam University Press.