Individual Presentation or Panel Title
The Lai of the Blue Knight
Abstract
This is a short-fiction project based on the lai, a medieval French form of story or ballad. The lai is set at Hollins, if Hollins was a medieval kingdom with a tourney for control of different buildings. The piece is written for both read and spoken work; the original lais would have been memorized orally as troubadours travelled from town to town.
I plan to read the lai aloud, though I do not plan to memorize the piece. It is 1600 words, taking about eight minutes to read. The piece was created simply to mimic the form of a lai, the only stipulation that it must be set at Hollins. It takes some liberties with cultural expectations, namely the cast made up entirely of women. But in the manner of lais, there is no physical description of characters beyond a generic ‘beautiful.’
However, in execution, it is a tale of romance as well as knightly tourneys. This lai is a piece on the struggle between love and honor that so characterized medieval literature.
Location
Rathskeller
Start Date
3-5-2014 2:30 PM
End Date
3-5-2014 3:20 PM
The Lai of the Blue Knight
Rathskeller
This is a short-fiction project based on the lai, a medieval French form of story or ballad. The lai is set at Hollins, if Hollins was a medieval kingdom with a tourney for control of different buildings. The piece is written for both read and spoken work; the original lais would have been memorized orally as troubadours travelled from town to town.
I plan to read the lai aloud, though I do not plan to memorize the piece. It is 1600 words, taking about eight minutes to read. The piece was created simply to mimic the form of a lai, the only stipulation that it must be set at Hollins. It takes some liberties with cultural expectations, namely the cast made up entirely of women. But in the manner of lais, there is no physical description of characters beyond a generic ‘beautiful.’
However, in execution, it is a tale of romance as well as knightly tourneys. This lai is a piece on the struggle between love and honor that so characterized medieval literature.