Coals to Newcastle

So, Chris Cannon had very graciously invited me to attend the biweekly Medieval Graduate Seminar here. I happily accepted and tried to be as small as possible. Derek Pearsall gave the opening lecture "How English Was Chaucer?" and it was a truly splendid performance. [Short Answer: "not very English, more 'European'].

This pink box is where the real business of English Lit. gets done at Cambridge. Its color signifies the Salmon of Wisdom, I'm told. . .because I wear a shirt that says "Gulli-Bill."

So, I was dithering along with my project when Helen Cooper phoned to ask if I would give this week's lecture; the scheduled speaker was sick.

So, I happen to have a few articles on my hard drive. Helen recommended that I present the most controversial one. How could I say "no". . .but after she said good-bye, I thought of five or six very plausible lies I could have used.

So, last night I gave a fifty-minute lecture on Chaucer's anti-Semitism. I can't recall the last time I gave such a long formal reading--if ever. My bifocals fogged. I felt like Keanu Reeves in "The Replacements," and I was probably every bit as articulate. I think I said "so" much too often. But then we all had some wine, and the Q&A session went very well--I think. Frankly, I owe some of my best ripostes to H2P; an en passant reference to the inscriptions on the Dome of the Rock can be a real show stopper.

So, I got a free dinner at the India House for my pains. . .and will gladly do it again. But I do look forward to just listening and learning next time.