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by J J Cohen
Remember my Italy revelation? Well, if there is one thing I have learned from reading medieval demonology, it is to disbelieve revelations, because the fallen spirits that act is if they are foretelling the future are actually timebound and therefore devoid of divine access to futurity. Demons frequently turn out to be correct in their pronouncements only because they are experts at gathering information, but predictions are not to be misunderstood as revelations.
That's a long way of saying that whatever infernal messenger put it into my head not to make the annual pilgrimage to Michigan has now been exorcised. I will indeed be attending ICMS Kalamazoo. How could I miss the postmedieval launch party? Best part: I have no paper to compose! Nothing to present, moderate, or respond to!
See you there?
I listened to that infernal messenger and am not going to Kazoo this year, which leaves me with a mixture of relief and agitation, as if I lost my keys but found a large check I had forgotten to deposit. It will be odd to hear about the mad swirl, like some Austen heroine who didn't get to go to London with her sisters.
ReplyDeleteThen again I am going back to London in 11 days (three hours and forty minutes, but who's counting), so I guess I can survive missing Kazoo (sniff).
Hope the launch is fabulous.
Funny thing about Kzoo -- I personally feel like I should be there right now...but maybe that's just the eight years of previous Kzoo attendance talking....
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to also mention:
ReplyDeletehow could anyone miss the "coming out" of the author of "Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog" whose book [same title!] will be available at Palgrave exhibit! Plus, there will be a not-so-secret "After-Partye Concerninge My Booke" in the BABEL suites from 10:00 p.m. onward on Thursday night. If we're all lucky, the Kalamazoo police will break up the party and someone will have to bail Chaucer out of prison.
Good times, good times.
Both books are great news. I think I might teach with that chaucer volume, even . . .
ReplyDeleteThat's funny (about demons) because the denizens of Inferno can only see the past and future, but the not the present (if I re-call correctly).
ReplyDeleteContra anagogy!
Cheers,
N
I shall be there (as you probably know) and very happy to raise some vessel or other in the company of you and your co-bloggers. Shall we prepare our argument beforehand or just wing it? :-)
ReplyDeleteJonathan! It will be SO great to see you again. Fisticuffs this time or just Greco-Roman wrestling? Lager or stout? Handshakes or just salutes? Uniforms or dressy-casual Bermuda shorts?
ReplyDeleteHow about if we argue over having pre-prepared arguments versus winging it, and who is better at each form?
ReplyDeleteEileen, how about arm-wrestling and then a Latin declension contest in the event of tie-break? N. B. this will require that any uniforms involved have ties...
ReplyDeleteJeffrey, I like the idea, but it now becomes a terrible sort of chicken doesn't it? Do we prepare evidence, and risk having to defend the practice of making it all up on the spot, or assume we can do just that and then have to defend full citation? Dammit! This is just the quandary you had laid out as a trap for me isn't it? How about we argue kites versus salad instead?
Well this is becoming complicated! Why don't we agree simply to drink together, and take it from there? Arm wrestling, Latin declension contests and debates about salad will surely follow, as they always do when medievalists gather, so let's not worry too much in advance.
ReplyDeleteAha, well I see which side you're on! But yes, all right and may the Tiny Shriner smile on us all, in so far as he does smile that is. See you argh really quite soon.
ReplyDelete