Sarah Breckenridge Wright will speak Monday, April 18, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Titelman Study of the Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts at Penn State Altoona.

Breckenridge Wright is an associate professor of medieval literature at Duquesne University and author of “Mobility and Identity in Chaucer’s 'Canterbury Tales.'” She is especially interested in liquid, porous, and displaced bodies.

Her presentation, “Reliquaries and Roaming Hearts: Dissolution and Elision on The Medieval Pilgrim Road,” will consider how pilgrims’ encounter with the world, with each other, and with the relics of a saint transforms the pilgrim body into a more-than-human assemblage that transcends traditional dichotomies of self/other, human/non-human, and even life/death. A brief Q&A session will follow.

The event is part of the Visiting Scholar series for Penn State Altoona’s English Program.