Series 4 - Research

0.62 m of textual and graphic records

Professor Flinn’s academic research centred on bourgeoise literature in the Middle Ages, particularly in France, and the iconography of the Roman de Renart, Renard the fox, and related works in medieval Europe. It led to one book, Le Roman de Renart dans la littérature française et dans les literatures étrangères au Moyen Age and a number of articles and addresses. His research continued into retirement and over the years he corresponded with a number of fellow enthusiasts, especially Tobias Hagtingius in the Netherlands and Kenneth Varty at the University of Glasgow.

The files contain notes, original material sent by colleagues, correspondence relating to Professor Flinn’s research interests and partial drafts of some writing projects. Some relate to his book, others to the iconography of the Roman de Renart, and still others to a ‘Reynard the Fox in Europe’ project proposed by Erwin Verzandvoort of the Netherlands in the late 1980s, which apparently came to naught. It is not possible, for the most part, to relate these files directly to a single publication, except for a few files relating to Professor Flinn’s book; these can be found in the next series.

The arrangement of the files follows Professor Flinn’s quite closely, with the description of each file (except for the “Renart’ prefix to each, done by the arranger) being, very largely, what he provided.

Included are photoprints, film strips, photonegatives, slides and postcards from sources in Europe and Britain; these are often referred to in the correspondence or in Professor Flinn’s notes. The images in B2009-0038/002P have been left in the envelopes provided by Professor Flinn, with his notations thereon; the descriptions of the other photos are taken from his notations. For an accompanying file of notes, see B2009-0038/005(18). The arrangement has been left in the order he created.

Open