How to Think Like a Medieval Writer: Discovering Ideas

This talk by Rachael Hodgson will lay out the evidence for how some medieval writers thought about both thinking and writing, including how different writers generated creative ideas. In the process, we will encounter some medieval authors, many of whom had very radical ideas of what their writing could achieve, existing in a creative world in which the notions of authorship were both more blurry and yet, perhaps, more significant than they are today. This talk will conclude by thinking about how ideas of discovery and creativity have changed since the Middle Ages – and how we can use practices from the past to inspire us today, with some workable examples.