rymenhild

The Rules

1. Leave me a comment.
2. I respond by asking you five questions. You will answer them, because you like talking about yourself.
3. You then update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. Include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Questions, courtesy of misslucyjane:

1) Thwap me if I've asked you this before, but what's the story behind your username?

Rymenhild (also spelled Rimenhild, Rimenild, Reymyld and Rigmel), princess of Westernesse, is the love interest in the late thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century Middle English verse romance King Horn. She courts her young man, rather than vice versa, but then she makes up for the initial awesomeness by staying at home for fourteen years while Horn goes off to fight Saracens. I'm not all that fond of the character, but I do like her name. I also like the fact that I can shorten the name to Rym, which is a Middle English word for verse or poem. (Its cognate in modern English is "rhyme".)

2) I am full of admiration and wonderment at medievalists. Why did you decide to focus on this period?

I never really decided to become a medievalist -- it just happened. I suppose I started out as a ten-year-old fangirl reading Susan Cooper, JRR Tolkien and everything I could find that mentioned King Arthur. I wanted to know what inspired these writers, so I started looking for the source texts. After eight or ten years of enthusiastic reading, when it came time for me to choose my specialty within English literature, I really didn't have to think very hard.

3) One of my favorite lines in Possession is something along the lines of "We love what survives our education." Is there any work you feel you love despite having studied it for years?

Oh, that's a good question. After sixteen years, two undergraduate seminars (one as a student, one as the instructor) and a senior thesis, I'm still passionately in love with Arthurian literature. (I tried listing the individual Arthurian works I love, but it's really too long of a list for me to post here. Ask me later!) King Horn and several other deeply odd Middle English romances have also survived my obsessions well.

4) What is "bibliosexuality"? (And does it involve stroking bookbindings? Library porn?)

I believe I first discovered the word in gramarye1971's userinfo and traced it back to foreverdirt's tongue not-that-far-in-cheek coming-out post. In any case, I adore books as things. I especially adore old books. Nothing makes me happier than sitting in an archival library with a seven-hundred-year-old codex smelling of vellum and leather, and, um, petting the corners of pages very gently when the librarians aren't looking. Not that I do that.. Anyway, I suppose I could just describe myself as a bibliophiliac, but the word "bibliosexual" is more fun.

5) Define yourself in five words or less.

Far too good at procrastinating. :D?

agonistes tagged me for the book meme that perpetually wanders around LiveJournal.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
6. Tag five people.

The nearest book, laugh at me as you will, seems to be Susan Cooper, Silver on the Tree.

Jane shrieked, and then Simon was past her in a flurry of arms and legs, clutching at Lewis, crying out as the toe of one heavy boot met his own shin.

Simon was never quite sure precisely what happened then. Fighting to drag Caradog Lewis away from John Rowlands' inert form, he found himself suddenly thrust downwards towards the sea in Lewis' grip, quite unable to resist.

muchabstracted, flintknappy, taylweaver, the_paper_nun and prosewitch, do you want to try it?

From angevin2:

( Am I a heretic? )

This is not a real update, I am afraid.

I am thankful for lots and lots of things, including (but not limited to) my studies, my friends, my family, my life in general, and my sister. (Yes, she's part of my family, but she gets a special mention anyway.)

Also, I have a meme, courtesy of deborah_judge.

Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one/a lot of reasons why I like/love/adore you. Then post this in your LJ and share the love.

sovay has found a version of the questions-about-random-characters meme that actually involves interesting questions about issues other than romantic relationships. In a weak moment, I decided to try her version myself. The material behind the cut is entirely G-rated.

The characters I shall be answering questions about:

1. Lyra Silvertongue (Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials)
2. Bran Davies (Susan Cooper, The Grey King)
3. Dream of the Endless (Neil Gaiman, Sandman)
4. Katherine Forrester Vigneras (Madeleine L'Engle, A Severed Wasp)
5. Harriet Vane (Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night)
6. The Master Shark (Diane Duane, Deep Wizardry)
7. Bertilak de Hautdesert (MS Cotton Nero Ax, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)
8. River Tam (Joss Whedon, Firefly)
9. Roland Deschain (Stephen King, Dark Tower)
10. Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan (Lois McMaster Bujold, Shards of Honor)
11. Alison (Alan Garner, The Owl Service)
12. Owen Glendower (William Shakespeare, Henry IV Part I)

( The questions and answers )