Libraries occupied a central place in the organization and reproduction of pre-modern knowledge cultures. Texts had been assembled in archives of various kinds from the Bronze Age, but most were of only ephemeral interest. Only when writing was deployed to create works intended to have lasting value – as literature, as contributions to science, or […]
The UCLA Medieval Texts Reading Group welcomes undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, and faculty interested in medieval literature. On the third Friday of each term, we meet to discuss a text in English translation from across the Global Middle Ages and consider what it tells us about its cultural and literary context. Each discussion will […]
Renart li rous: The Physiognomy of a Traitor The Roman de Renart, an Old French literary cycle composed between the late-twelfth and mid-thirteenth centuries, tells the tale of the fox, Renart, who wreaks havoc on his society through renardie, or foxish and deceitful misbehavior. The first branch, or section, of the cycle recounts how Renart […]
Participation in the Seminar consists of group discussion of pre-circulated papers, typically drafts of articles, book chapters, or dissertation chapters (with complete apparatus). Two of the papers are ordinarily by emerging scholars (including PhD students) and the other two are by established scholars. We allocate one hour per paper and presenters should anticipate substantial, and […]
This aspirational, historical, and critical book offers a fundamental rethinking of the relationship between humans and the rest of nature — a vital perspective in a moment defined by environmental crisis, increasing authoritarianism, social justice movements, and global calls for systemic change. Drawing upon writings from a wide range of fields, Claire Farago combines a […]
UCLA holds one of the largest groupings of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscripts in the Americas, yet little is known about their provenance. This event will shed light on the sources of some of UCLA’s twenty collections of manuscripts in Arabic script. This event will draw attention to manuscript provenance by hosting five talks from […]
Previously scheduled for January 23, 2026. The UCLA Medieval Texts Reading Group welcomes undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, and faculty interested in medieval literature. On the third Friday of each term, we meet to discuss a text in English translation from across the Global Middle Ages and consider what it tells us about its cultural […]
Participation in the Seminar consists of group discussion of pre-circulated papers, typically drafts of articles, book chapters, or dissertation chapters (with complete apparatus). Two of the papers are ordinarily by emerging scholars (including PhD students) and the other two are by established scholars. We allocate one hour per paper and presenters should anticipate substantial, and […]
This talk explores Chaucer’s depictions of love alongside Avicenna’s Treatise on Love and related Arabic medical and philosophical texts that circulated in Latin. It explores how an Arabic-Islamic metaphysics of love shaped by Aristotelian, Neoplatonic, and Sufi thought can reshape our understanding of fin’amors in Middle English poetry. Rather than simply tracing “influence,” I ask how we […]
“The Origins of the Authorial Colophon in the Latin West” Guest Speaker: Daniel Hobbins (University of Notre Dame) In the early twelfth century, a group of translators working in Iberia began supplying their works with colophons as though they were scribes. They simply replaced the date of copy with the date of composition. Modern scholarship […]