2025 is upon us, and with it comes the publication of Ceræ’s eleventh volume, featuring three themed articles, two creative varia, and a record nineteen book reviews. This issue follows the theme of ‘Metamorphosis, Transformation, and Transmutation‘: we sought articles that addressed shifts in reality, in body, in nature, and in society. The three themed articles interact with what our editor-in-chief Ashley Castelino calls “this time of great flux”, and we are honored to oversee both James Russell’s and Philip Goldbarb Styrt’s transformation from presenters at the Ceræ conference to authors in the Ceræ journal.
Szilárd Kováč, in his article, turns attention to transformations embedded in fourteenth-century Bohemian historical narratives. The court chronicler Přibík Půlkava, working under the auspices of Charles IV, presented a narrative of the life of the Přemyslid ruler Břetislav I that departed substantially from the earlier work of Cosmas of Prague. Kováč interrogates the relationship between Cosmas’ narrative, Půlkava’s work, and the Old Czech Dalimil to illustrate the shifts in Břetislav’s reception across dynasties, as well as the utility of this figure in dynastic legitimization.
James Russell deals with a complicated early modern manuscript, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, and the marginalia both written and drawn therein by Pope Alexander VII. The Pope’s visual journey through the manuscript encompasses both the dreamy imagery of the Hypnerotomachia and contemporary construction projects in Rome, interacting with the manuscript such that it is transformed by his attentions.
Philip Goldfarb Styrt addresses early modern drama and contemporary online fiction as examples of transformative works. The relationship between The Winter’s Tale and Pandosto is analyzed through a lens that appropriates the frameworks and phrasing of online fanfiction to illustrate the interactive and interpretative qualities of the daughter text.
Roxanne Bodsworth and Sam Corradetti approach the theme of transformation through creative reworkings of medieval texts. Bosworth’s subject, the Irish Aislinge Óenguso (The Dream of Óengus), is an oddity in that the male protagonist becomes a swan to join his lover. Bodsworth is interested in Caer’s agency, as well as her freeing of Óengus. Her reconstruction of the narrative utilizes switches between prose and verse to emphasize Caer’s liberatory qualities. Coradetti, after a discussion of the source text, transmutes the alchemical and astrological underpinnings of the chivalric romance Cligès to background a piece of contemporary queer short fiction.
This volume contains Ceræ’s first (English) reviews of Italian and French books amid a record nineteen book reviews many of which follow the transformative theme, ranging from Minjie Su’s volume on werewolves in Norse literature to a study of mobility in Armenia and Byzantium by Emilio Bonfiglia and Claudia Rapp. We thank all of our many reviewers for their contributions: John Aspinwall, Wajih Ayed, Kim Bergqvist, Ashley Castelino, Eylül Çetinbaş, Lorenzo Curatella, Simon Egan, Tom Fairfax, Emma E. Horne, Pamela Kask, Cassandre Lejosne, Nicholas J. Odom, Daniele Ottolenghi, Lynn Riehl, Dain Swenson, James Russell, Maria Gloria Tumminelli, and Malek J. Zuraikat.
This volume comes into being under the chief editorship of Ashley Castelino, as well as the efforts of the deputy editors Lindsay Church and Ayaka Nguyen. Amanda Burrows and Maria Gloria Tumminelli co-edited book reviews. Michele Seah served as secretary and treasurer and Erica Steiner was web editor, roles they will continue to hold for the twelfth volume. Julian Calcagno, James Cogbill, Lorenzo Curatella, Gavin Foster, Essi Nuutinen, Birgitta Schvéd, Dora Skënderi, and Dain Swenson served as general committee members. We thank them for their time and energy.
Each contribution to Volume 11 is available as an individual PDF, and the volume in its entirety is available at the Volume 11 page here:
Volume 11: Metamorphosis, Transformation, and Transmutation
If you wish to submit your own research to Ceræ, themed submissions for Volume 12 (Dreams, Visions, and Utopias) are open until 30 April 2025. We also accept non-themed submissions year round, and the editorial committee would be more than happy to discuss your proposal. Please visit our submission page for more information.
The 2025 Ceræ conference centred on the same theme will be held 26–27 April 2025. Proposals are accepted until February 29 2025.
We hope you enjoy this volume of Ceræ!
Image credit: Rosarium Philosophorum, GB 247 MS Ferguson 210.