The Sword out of the Stone: Echoes of Arthurian Material Culture in the 21st Century
Arthurian narratives are filled with magical objects, which are often characterised by their ability to act on unsuspecting knightly heroes. We see objects such as the sword in the stone and the Holy Grail acting in the same ways in both medieval romance and contemporary film and fiction. In this seminar, I will explore the ways in which twenty-first century Arthurian adaptations use the same kinds of objects and narrative traditions as their medieval antecedents, and ask what our own society might believe about Arthur and Arthurianism.
Matt Clancy completed his PhD at Birkbeck in 2020, discussing Arthurian material culture as a means of gauging medieval belief in Arthur and Arthurianism. He has published on Arthurian objects in the Journal of the International Arthurian Society and Arthurian Literature. He now works as the Research Student Coordinator at the School of Advanced Study’s Doctoral Centre.
this seminar is free to attend, but booking in advance is required.
This page was last updated on 30 June 2024
