1st Edition

Medieval Literature Criticism and Debates

Edited By Holly Crocker, D. Vance Smith Copyright 2014
    552 Pages
    by Routledge

    552 Pages
    by Routledge

    Medieval Literature: Criticism and Debates combines classic critical essays alongside new voices and approaches, highlighting vibrant debates on medieval literature that will continue to shape critical conversations for the coming decades.

    Holly A. Crocker and D. Vance Smith present a fascinating collection of essays from leading contemporary scholars of medieval literature and culture, examining topics including gender, sexuality, politics, belief, language, nationhood, science and desire. The volume sheds light on critical discussions of the medieval period and shows the continuing relevance and vivacity of Medieval English literature in the twenty-first century.

    Each section is thoroughly introduced and the essays develop various debates in key areas, providing a springboard for readers to establish their own study, arguments and opinions. Further reading sections make this volume an accessible and important resource for those studying literature from the Medieval period and beyond.

    Contributors: Anthony Bale, Sarah Beckwith, Anke Bernau, Glenn Burger, Ardis Butterfield, Christopher Cannon, Christine Chism, Lisa H. Cooper, Susan Crane, Holly A. Crocker, George Edmondson, Ruth Evans, Sylvia Federico, Laurie Finke, Aranye Fradenburg, Frank Grady, Richard Firth Green, Patricia Clare Ingham , Hannah Johnson, Steven Justice, David Lawton, Robert Mills, J. Allan Mitchell, Nicholas Perkins, Tison Pugh, Elizabeth Robertson, Kellie Robertson, Jessica Rosenfeld, Sarah Salih, Corinne Saunders, Martin Shichtman, D. Vance Smith, Emily Steiner, Jennifer Summit, Stephanie Trigg, Marion Turner, David Wallace, Angela Jane Weisl, Nicolette Zeeman

    Introduction, Holly A. Crocker and D. Vance Smith  Part 1: Form and History  1. Chronicles and Literary Form, Sylvia Federico  2. The Ballad and the Middle Ages, Richard Firth Green  3. Lyrics and Short Poems, Bruce Holsinger  4. Christianity and Middle English Romance, Corinne Saunders  Part 2: Belief and Thought  5. Christians and Jews, Love and Hate, Anthony Bale  6. Did the Middle Ages Believe in Their Miracles? Steven Justice  7. Envy and Ethics: "Plesaunce Leefful" in the Parson’s Tale, Jessica Rosenfeld  8. When is a Bosom Not a Bosom? Problems with 'Erotic Mysticism, Sarah Salih  Part 3: Gender and Sexuality  9. Conduct Becoming: Gender and the Making of an Ethical Subject in The Book of the Knight of the Tower, Glenn Burger  10. Purity and Sexuality, Anke Bernau  11. The Matter of Feminine Virtue in Pearl, Holly A. Crocker  12. Whatever You Do Is a Delight to Me!: Masculinity, Masochism, and Queer Play in Representations of Male Martyrdom, Robert Mills  13. This Living Hand': Thirteenth-Century Female Literacy, Materialist Immanence, and the Reader of the Ancrene Wisse, Elizabeth Robertson  Part 4: Memory and Matter  14. Crafting Memory, Lisa H. Cooper  15. Antisemitism and the Purposes of Historicism: Chaucer’s Prioress’s Tale, Hannah Johnson  16. Haunted Hoccleve? The Regiment of Princes, the Troilean Intertext, and Conversations with the Dead, Nicholas Perkins  17. Irregular Histories: Forgetting Ourselves, D. Vance Smith  Part 5: Nation and Language  18. English, French and Anglo-French: Language and Nation in the Fabliau, Ardis Butterfield  19. Between the Old and the Middle of English, Christopher Cannon  20. The Medieval Mediterranean, Christine Chism  21. Machomete' and Mandeville's Travels, Frank Grady  22. Discipline and Romance, Patricia Clare Ingham  Part 6: Time and Place  23. Movie Medievalism: Five (or Six) Ways of Viewing an Anachronism, Tison Pugh and Angela Jane Weisl  24. The Romance of Medievalism, Laurie Finke and Martin B. Shichtman  25. Topography as Historiography: Petrarch, Chaucer, and the Making of Medieval Rome, Jennifer Summit  26. Imperium, Commerce, and National Crusade: The Romance of Malory's Morte, David Wallace  Part 7: Science and Embodiment  27. Knights in Disguise: Identity and Incognito in Fourteenth-Century Chivalry, Susan Crane  28. Dining Tables, Conduct Texts, and Human Ecology, J. Allan Mitchell  29. The Jew, the Host and the Virgin Martyr: Fantasies of the Sentient Body, Ruth Evans  30. Materiality and the Hylomorphic Imagination, Kellie Robertson  Part 8: Period and Politics  31. Henryson's Doubt: Neighbors and Negation in The Testament of Cresseid, George Edmondson  32. Imagining Polities: Social Possibility and Conflict, Marion Turner  33. Lords, Servants, and the Ethics of Medieval English Literature, Emily Steiner  34. Dullness and the Fifteenth Century, David Lawton  Part 9: Desire and Performance  35. Absent Presences: The Theatre of Resurrection in York, Sarah Beckwith  36. Sacrificial Desire in Chaucer's Knight's Tale, Aranye Fradenburg  37. Willing, Nicollette Zeeman  38. Women in Uniform: Dress and Performance in Medieval Court Culture, Stephanie Trigg Suggestions for Further Reading Bibliography Index

    Biography

    Holly A. Crocker is Associate Professor of English at the University of South Carolina. She has received fellowships and grants from the German Fulbright Comission, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

    D. Vance Smith is Professor of English and Director of the Program in Medieval Studies at Princeton University. He has received fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the U.K. Fulbright Commission, the National Humanities Center, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies.

    "An expertly curated selection framed by an introduction and extensive bibliography…the book will be ideal for advanced students or for faculty working up a new area. Summing Up: Recommended." -- D. W. Hayes, Lakehead University, in CHOICE