{"word_count": 375, "character_count": 2563}
Submissions are invited for a graduate conference entitled "The Authors,Editors, and Audiences of Medieval Middle Eastern Texts" at the University ofCambridge on 1st-2nd September 2014.This conference will bring together graduate students working on the historyand literature of the medieval Middle East to discuss what it might mean whenwe refer to "authors," "editors," and "audiences" of medieval texts. Medievalis to be interpreted broadly as falling between the seventh andfifteenth-centuries CE. Submissions will be invited from graduates working onall genres of medieval Middle Eastern texts (including, but not limited to,history, geography, adab, poetry, medicine, science, theology and law), andspeakers are encouraged to engage with at least one of the following questions:** Authors: What do we mean when we speak of the medieval author? Is the termauthor anachronistic? Can we identify the distinctive voice of an author? Arethere conventions and topoi to which the voice of an author is subject? Is theauthorial presence stronger or weaker in certain genres of literature? Does itmake sense to talk of authoring works in certain genres? Can we speak ofauthorship when dealing with translations into Arabic or compilations of otherauthors' material, whether written or otherwise?** Editors: What is the difference between an author and an editor? How dideditors select and arrange their material? Did editors interfere with theirsources, and if so why? Does it make sense to speak of passive editors andactive authors? What editorial strategies underpin certain texts?** Audiences: Who were texts meant for? Was the stated recipient always theintended recipient? Were texts meant to be read or heard? What were audiencessupposed to do with texts? How did the intended audience influence authorial oreditorial approaches? Did audiences discuss what they had read or heard, andwhere did they do so? How were texts received among later audiences, and didthis audience change?Abstracts of no more than 300 words for 45-minute papers should be sent to theconveners by the 1st March, 2014. Those submitting approved proposals will benotified no later than 1st April, 2014.Free central Cambridge accommodation will be provided to all external speakersfor the night of 1st September. Refreshments and a buffet lunch will also beprovided on both days of the conference.Please email Joshua Olsson (PhD student, University of Cambridge:jto25@cam.ac.uk) and Ryan Lynch (PhD student, University of Oxford:ryan.lynch@pmb.ox.ac.uk) with abstracts and any questions.