The medieval reading group will meet on Wednesday, 3 Nov in GR03, Faculty of English to hear Shirley Zhang’s paper ‘Interpreting motherhood in Old French and Middle English Merlin narratives’, followed by discussion and drinks. All are welcome.

This paper discusses the interpretation of motherhood in the Vulgate Merlin and its three Middle English adaptations. Comparing the narrative strategies adopted by the authors in the process of adaptation, it considers various aspects of a mother’s life in late medieval communities reflected and negotiated in these texts.