Signum Symposia

Signum University

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Signum Symposia comprise a collection of conversations across a wide range of topics appealing to both fans and scholars of literature. Episodes include chats with members of Signum's world class faculty, presentations by students in our Masters program and interviews with some of the leading lights in academic and popular circles. With a rich variety of topics and speakers, there is bound to be something here for everyone.

NOV 18

Thesis Theater: Jay Moses, "Seedbed Of Darkness: M.R. James, Folk Horror, And 17th Century England"

This recording from November 1, 2024. Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Jay Moses on Saturday, November 1, 2024 at 5pm ET. M.R. James was recognized and acclaimed for his short stories of the macabre written at the turn of the twentieth century. In the 1970’s the new genre of Folk Horror arose, basing many of its stories within the England countryside, and claiming M.R. James as a significant foundation and forerunner. While setting most of his stories in present day England, several of them are set within 17th Century England. This Thesis explores four of James’ stories with settings in 17th Century England: The Fenstanton Witch, The Ash Tree, Martin’s Close and The Rose Garden and attempts to discern what exactly drew James to this time period, but more importantly, what it was about this time period that lent itself to Folk Horror. It is the conclusion of this Thesis that the great instability of England, combining Puritan beliefs, fanatical authority, and brutal punishments, laid the seeds of paranoia and rural unease from which M.R. James and Folk Horror both created tales of terror. About the Presenter: Jay Moses is a pastor at Saint Mark Presbyterian Church in the DC area, teaching adjunct at the University of Maryland. His favorite memories leading to his studies at Signum are finding yellow-worn paperbacks of Ray Bradbury in his sister’s book shelf, watching the Hobbit with cheese popcorn made by his mother, and listening to the many ghost stories told by his father while camping. His wife is the best thing about him, and his children continue to wonder if he really reads his books. About Signum Thesis Theaters: Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Spring 2025 semester (term begins January 13th)! To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/upcoming-courses/ Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/. Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/ Support Signum Symposia

59 min
OCT 15

Thesis Theater: Peter DeVault, "Illuminating the Metrical Grammar of Germanic Alliterative Poetry"

This recording from September 28, 2024. Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Peter DeVault on Saturday, September 28, 2024 at 10am ET. Modern metrical analysis of Germanic alliterative poetry (GAP) has invariably proceeded from edited texts in which the poem is represented visually as verses on a printed page or screen. Of course, that is not how these poems came down to us. The manuscript form of a GA poem is typically indistinguishable from prose, the words (and abbreviations) inscribed margin to margin on parchment, with little or no indication of where one verse ends and another begins. This manuscript arrangement is a trove for learning how medieval poets and scribes assembled and presented their materials. Remarkably, the abstract structure of a GAP poem can be recovered from manuscript “storage” by someone having no prior familiarity with the poem. Hitherto, to present the poem has been to lose the manuscript. I propose an alternative that illuminates on the one hand the continuity between manuscript and poetic text, and on the other, the versecraft of the poet as evidenced in the text. The annotation scheme and processing method outlined in this thesis allow us to create a TEI/Menota compatible xml document based on a medieval germanic poem realized in a particular manuscript. This document can contain several overlapping layers of information: the layout of the words on the manuscript page along with their linguistic and morphological features and decomposition into syllables; the organization of those words into poetic lines and verses; and a projection of metrical features onto this abstract structure. While being itself a data source for further programmatic analytic and comparative work, this document can in turn be transformed into an interactive html representation showing any of these layers of information. In this presentation, you will see how these methods and tools work in the context of selections from five poetic manuscripts including portions of Beowulf and the Poetic Edda. About the Presenter: Peter DeVault hails from the upper Midwest of the United States, where he works at a healthcare software company leading a team developing applications for clinical genomics. Having discovered Signum University in 2019 while tracking down linguistic resources for Tolkien’s invented languages, he has since immersed himself in a world of medieval Germanic languages and texts. When he isn’t grappling with philology and metrics, Peter composes and records music and talks with his grandchild about dragons. Benjamin Bagby's "Beowulf: The Epic Performance": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WcIK_8f7oQ&t=0s About Signum Thesis Theaters: Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Spring 2025 semester (term begins January 13th)! To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-programs/graduate/upcoming-courses/. Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/. Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/. Support Signum Symposia

1 hr
SEP 18

Thesis Theater: Julia Stowe, "Time and Eternity in 8-10th c. West Germanic Language and Literature"

This recording from September 9, 2024. Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Julia Stowe on Saturday, September 14, 2024 at 10am ET. The concepts of time and eternity, and the words that are used to express them, have significant influence over a culture. This thesis examines how the understanding of these concepts changed in early Germanic culture with the introduction of Christianity, and how this shift is reflected in the languages and literature of the early Germanic world. Focusing on West Germanic languages and literature from the 8th to 10th centuries, it explores how a shift in a cultural conception of time instigates broader and deeper cultural transformations and linguistic change. The perception of time as cyclical and endless, yet enduringly doomed, as can be glimpsed in pre- Christian Germanic cultures, is contrasted with the conceptualization of time as a finite creation and eternity as an existence wholly outside of time’s boundaries, the view introduced to early medieval Germania through early Christian writings. By considering how an understanding of time and eternity affects a culture and by analyzing texts from this era, we can examine how the introduction of Christian theological and philosophical thought surrounding these concepts influenced the greater culture, and how that influence is reflected in the language and literature. About the Presenter: Julia Stowe began studying with Signum University in 2020 with plans to complete a graduate certificate. After the first course, however, a general interest in medieval literature and Germanic philology had turned to passion that has continued to grow in the past few years of working towards an MA. Outside of academic interests, she is an herbalist, graphic designer, and avid gardener, and is delighted at the prospect of staying connected with the Signum community in the future through auditing and SPACE courses. About Signum Thesis Theaters: Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/. Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degree-programs/. Support Signum Symposia

1h 7m
AUG 17

Thesis Theater: Robert Black, "Beowulf as a Christian Critique of Germanic Heroism"

This recording from August 10, 2024. Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Robert Black on Saturday, August 10, 2024 at 4pm ET. This paper proposes to compare once again the heroes Beowulf and Böðvarr Bjarki, using linguistics and critiques of the heroes to build on the traditional approaches of comparison through folktale, etymological, and literary analysis to examine the degree to which Beowulf may be considered a hero or the praised object of censure. After summarizing their mode of Germanic Heroism and lightly comparing the heroes’ stories and reviewing the current state of scholarship on the Bear’s Son Tale as applied to these analogues and the role of the Dragon in Beowulf, attention is given to the use and significance of the term aglæca in Beowulf, including its application to the eponymous hero. Further consideration is given to Beowulf’s fate as a Christianised Germanic Hero, and it is argued that the poet subtly critiques Beowulf for the shortcomings endemic to his particular idiom of heroism, in contrast with absence of critique of Böðvarr. This evidence and reasoning provide additional support for the argument that Beowulf was composed in an Anglo-Latin and thus Christianised England, and allow for fresh examination of the implications thereof. About the Presenter: Robert Black earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Austin College and has taught English Language & Literature at various levels for the past dozen years. When he has free time, he enjoys reading, hiking, a pint of bitter, reading, whistling, watching & discussing movies & shows, and more reading. But what is best in his life is raising three lovely children with his wonderful wife in their native Texas. About Signum Thesis Theaters: Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Fall 2024 semester (term begins August 26th)! To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p.... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/. Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr.... Support Signum Symposia

1h 2m
JUL 22

Thesis Theater: Celesta Clegg, "Original Sin: A Portrait of the Fall Through Germanic Texts”

This recording from July 13, 2024. Signum University presents Thesis Theater with Celesta Clegg on Saturday, July 13, 2024 at 5pm ET. Germanic reworkings of Genesis material present a glimpse into the Christian doctrine and societal understandings of the medieval culture in which the texts were composed. This thesis serves as an analysis and synthesis of the topic of original sin as found in a selection of prominent Germanic Genesis-related texts. Primary sources from the early post-conversion period through the late medieval period will be analyzed comparatively to determine common themes across analogues, explore original material unique to specific reworkings of the text, and postulate societal influence and reception of these works within the culture of the time. About the Presenter: Celesta Clegg is a graduate of West Liberty University with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. She has worked in the music field for the better part of a decade working with choirs, marching bands, and private lesson students. In her free time she enjoys reading Tolkien, writing in Tengwar, painting, hiking, and playing with her dog, Bailey. She and her husband are expecting their first child together this month. About Signum Thesis Theaters: Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Fall 2024 semester (term begins August 26th)! To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p.... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/. Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr.... Support Signum Symposia

1h 10m
MAY 14

Thesis Theater: Shannon Choudhari, "Notion Club Papers and Tolkien’s Vision of Creative Mysticism"

This recording from May 10, 2024. Signum University Graduate School presents Thesis Theater with Shannon Choudhari on Tuesday, May 10, 2024 at 5pm ET. “I wonder what you’ve been up to?”: The Notion Club Papers and Tolkien’s Vision of Creative Mysticism Since it’s publication in 1992, Tolkien’s unfinished time-travel story The Notion Club Papers has received relatively infrequent critical attention for its depiction of time and time-travel, as well as for its representation of Tolkien’s Númenor legend. This thesis seeks to counter the dominant view – that the tale’s intricate plot, narrative complexity, and unfinished state overshadow the “real” story of Númenor, resulting in a work that is both difficult and ultimately unsatisfying. Beginning with a reconsideration of the story as written (rather than as it might have been), this study explores how narrative and stylistic strategies work together to convey a distinctive portrait of the sub-creative artist that is defined by the very techniques that make the story itself uniquely effective. It begins with a consideration of the tale’s climax and thematic focus, arguing for the threshold of creative mystic experience, rather than Númenor, as the crux of the story. Further examining the unique meeting of structure and theme, the study then moves into an analysis of narrative form, demonstrating how the metafictional interface and complex embedding of narrative layers engage in a carefully balanced rhetoric of authentication, while also working to simultaneously destabilize assumptions about reality. Further entanglement of the Papers and its vision with the Primary World through elements of metacommentary and biographical allegory are seen to break through narrative boundaries, resulting in a unique vehicle that is perhaps best suited to deliver Tolkien’s radical vision of creative mysticism – a vision that is consistent, if somewhat obscured, within his larger body of fictional and personal writings. The complexity of these features which others have perceived as failings are here reinterpreted as the “essentials” of the tale, themselves revelatory of a sweeping assertion of visionary power and overlapping realities, where personalities are subsumed and the Primary World itself transformed. About Signum Thesis Theaters Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/. Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr.... Support Signum Symposia

46 min
MAY 14

Thesis Theater: Trevor Brierly, "Tolkien's Vision of Faërie in 'Smith of Wooton Major'"

This recording from May 7, 2024. Signum University Graduate School presents Thesis Theater with Trevor Brierly on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 2pm ET, on the subject of Tolkien's "Vision of Faërie" in "Smith of Wootton Major." Tolkien's story "Smith of Wootton Major", written in 1965, and an accompanying essay written at the same time, provide a rich understanding of Tolkien's "Vision of Faërie" that goes significantly beyond earlier critical works such "On Fairy-stories" and "Mythopoeia". A close reading and analysis approach to "Smith" and the essay indicate that Tolkien saw Faërie as necessary, universal, beneficent and transformative to humanity. In order to fully appreciate what "Smith" has to say about Faërie, it must be understood that "Smith" is neither an allegory nor primarily autobiographical and should be seen as a "fairy-story", a story about a human journeying in the Faërie realm. The essay adds to our understanding of Faërie as it tells a parallel story concerning Faërie intervening in Wootton Major, to restore contact with the enchantment of Faërie that is being lost. "Smith" and the essay together are important for understanding Tolkien's increasingly sophisticated and elevated view of Faërie, which he claimed was "as necessary for the health and complete functioning of the Human as is sunlight for physical life." About the Presenter: N. Trevor Brierly is a software engineer with more than 25 years of experience in the industry. He has a background in literature with an MLIS from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in English from George Mason University. His research interests include worldbuilding in speculative fiction, Tolkien, Frank Herbert, Le Guin, Shakespeare, and the Renaissance. He has presented working papers on “Lord of the Rings”, “Dune”, “King Lear”, worldbuilding, and other topics. He has published an essay “Worldbuilding Design Patterns in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien” in “Sub-creating Arda” (Walking Tree Publishers, 2019) and is co-editor of “Discovering Dune” from McFarland Books (2022). He lives in Northern Virginia and enjoys books, jazz, tea and cats. About Signum Thesis Theaters Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Summer 2024 semester until May 10th! To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p.... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/. Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr.... Support Signum Symposia

57 min
APR 12

Thesis Theater: Timothy Francis, "Administrative Art as Genre in Kafka, Tooker, and Ravn"

This recording from April 11, 2024. Signum MA student Timothy Francis will present his thesis “Administrative Art as Genre in Kafka, Tooker, and Ravn” and respond to questions from the audience in an interactive Thesis Theater. The discussion will be facilitated by Timothy’s thesis supervisor, Dr. Gabriel Schenk. Abstract This thesis explores bureaucracy through the works of three artists working in different media: prose, visual art, and bureaucracy itself as a medium. Rooted in an understanding of what constitutes bureaucracy and administration and previous works on the subject, it seeks to explore what might constitute bureaucratic art and what the aims of such an art might be. Building upon existing literature and prior artistic explorations of bureaucracy and their analyses, this thesis aims to understand bureaucratic art and unravel its significance and potential impacts. The works are considered individually and collectively, offering multifaceted insights from different perspectives. By navigating the labyrinth of bureaucratic structures and creative interpretation, this thesis endeavors to shed light on the intersections between bureaucracy and artistry, ultimately paving the way for a deeper appreciation and comprehension of administrative or bureaucratic art. About the Presenter Timothy Francis is a recovering bureaucrat, former public accountant in tax law, and sometimes musician who applies his collaborative and creative lenses outside of the public sector and has been Composer-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts developing and exploring creative collaborative frameworks for performers, lyricists, and composers. His compositions have been performed worldwide including at the Bregenzer Festspiele by the Vienna Symphony, Carnegie Hall by the New York Pops and the Berlin Film Festival. At Signum University, as a Language and Literature Master’s student, his focus has been on discovering works old and new, and exploring various critical lenses, approaches, and their applications. Highlights include the opportunity to read ancient texts in their original language, and focus on areas of interest including semiotics, translation, and adaptation. About Signum Thesis Theaters Each of our master’s students writes a thesis at the end of their degree program, exploring a topic of their choice. The Thesis Theater is their opportunity to present their research to a general audience, and answer questions. All are welcome to attend! Registration is open for the Summer 2024 semester! Classes begin Monday, April 29th. To view our upcoming courses: https://signumuniversity.org/degree-p.... Learn about Signum University’s mission, leadership and more: https://signumuniversity.org/about/. Want to enjoy Signum’s educational offerings? Start here! https://signumuniversity.org/non-degr.... Support Signum Symposia

1h 1m

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Signum University
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123
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Signum Symposia

Thesis Theater: Jay Moses, "Seedbed Of Darkness: M.R. James, Folk Horror, And 17th Century England"

Thesis Theater: Peter DeVault, "Illuminating the Metrical Grammar of Germanic Alliterative Poetry"

Thesis Theater: Julia Stowe, "Time and Eternity in 8-10th c. West Germanic Language and Literature"

Thesis Theater: Robert Black, "Beowulf as a Christian Critique of Germanic Heroism"

Thesis Theater: Celesta Clegg, "Original Sin: A Portrait of the Fall Through Germanic Texts”

Thesis Theater: Shannon Choudhari, "Notion Club Papers and Tolkien’s Vision of Creative Mysticism"

Thesis Theater: Trevor Brierly, "Tolkien's Vision of Faërie in 'Smith of Wooton Major'"

Thesis Theater: Timothy Francis, "Administrative Art as Genre in Kafka, Tooker, and Ravn"

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