The literary studies project, which is part of the work of the ‘Topics and Tradition’ interdisciplinary research group, examines the topos of ekphrasis in late Medieval and Early Modern literature.

The focus is the question of how ekphrasis generates new and theoretical, yet largely implicit knowledge of representation. It examines how this knowledge, which is developed by making conscious use of tradition, plays a vital role in staging literariness in English language writing in the late medieval and Early Modern periods, and how this knowledge can be used in the discussion of tradition itself.