We’ve not had a good couple of years for conferences, to put it lightly. I’m happy to report that I’ll be giving a paper at Bristol as part of a conference on manuscript fragments at their Centre for Medieval Studies.
I’m speaking on 17 September with the title ‘Words for Fragments’. It seems to me that there might be some mileage in trying to step outside or behind fragment studies to explore the words and concepts we use in talking of these objects. I don’t for a minute expect to propound some kind of ideal vocabulary which everyone will then adopt(!), but I hope through my paper and (with luck) ensuing discussion, I might help us clarify some useful distinctions and continuities. Scholars approach manuscript fragments from wide range of disciplines, wielding a variety of investigative tools, and I suspect we might benefit from striving for as much precision as possible in interdisciplinary ‘fragmentological’ discussions.
The whole conference programme covers a lot of ground and looks very exciting: I’m regarding the prospect of travelling to Bristol with a bit of trepidation, but I can’t wait to hear people talk about their research in person again!
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