Month: December 2025

Have you developed a great idea after the initial proposal deadline for the 2026 NCS Congress? If so, here’s your second chance!

by Candace Barrington

The 2026 NCS Congress Program Committee warmly invites additional proposals for the Congress’s Research Expo. The Research Expo will host research with strong visual or digital elements presented in a display or poster format. Presenters will discuss their display and the underpinning research during a single launch session.

This session is open to a range of formats and topics that may offer updates on work-in-progress, preliminary conclusions, experimental modes of presenting research data, and shorter summaries of material. Topics particularly suited to posters might include, but are certainly not limited to: 

  • Research on manuscripts or other aspects of material culture
  • Image-heavy work that deploys visual analysis
  • Updates on large-scale funded projects or other grant funded work-in-progress
  • Data-driven work that is communicated in graphical forms
  • Experimental digital methods
  • Incorporate a hands-on or other interactive element

Posters will be displayed in a hall where receptions will be held and a time will be reserved for researchers to talk about their work. A prize will be offered to one poster. 

Note: The printing of posters can be done in Freiburg (and at no cost) before the conference (more information will be provided to those whose posters are accepted).

To submit a proposal: Proposals should be titled and no longer than 200 words. Please include your name, affiliation, and your email address along with your abstract. Please email your proposal directly to the Research Expo organisers Mary Flannery, R. D. Perry, and J. R. Mattison at ncs2026freiburg@gmail.com no later than 31 December 2025.

Death of a beloved translator, John Boje

by Candace Barrington

One of the great joys of the Global Chaucers project has been the opportunity to correspond (and sometimes meet) many translators and scholars from around the world. Each one has taught me much about translation, Chaucer, and the joys of literature. Perhaps none taught me more than John Boje of Pretoria, South Africa.

He and I began corresponding in November 2013. I had learned (from someone on some platform) about his ‘n Keur uit die Pelgrimsverhale van Geoffrey Chaucer [A Selection of the Pilgrims’ Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer]. I emailed him, asking if he’d be willing to answer some questions. I tapped “send,” and before I had a chance to make a cup of tea, I heard back from him with an enthusiastic “Yes!” And so began our collaboration and our friendship.

Earlier that year, he had completed his translation of all the tales (including, he was proud to report, The Parson’s Tale and The Tale of Melibee), so all the tribulations and victories of translation were fresh in his mind. I would send one-line questions, and he’d respond with pages filled with exuberant answers and multiple examples. He described complications and shared insights that I didn’t have the experience to imagine. He gleefully (and mischievously) explained how he exploited the common Dutch ancestry of both Middle English and Afrikaans words. He showed me how Afrikaans, a language associated with an oppressive regime, could be slyly used (in ways that Chaucerians can appreciate) to subvert the dominant discourse.

Because he eventually wrote “‘Save oure tonges difference’: Reflections on Translating Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales into Afrikaans,” his doctoral dissertation whose erudition is belied by the “reflections,” I have at hand a compendium of his thoughts about particular techniques or specific dilemmas.

I am fortunate that I learned of his decline in time to send him a note expressing my gratitude. I wanted him to know that our initial email conversations became the foundation of my scholarly practice. His clear and enthusiastic answers to my ambitious questions convinced me that I would be able to make a long-term project out of my germ of an idea.

I must add one more note: John’s generosity of spirit extended far beyond the gracious help he offered me. As his friends and family testify, he provides an unbeatable example of how to work towards a world where “justice can rise up / And hope and history rhyme” (Seamus Heaney, “The Cure of Troy”).