A companion to medieval English literature and culture, c.1350-c.1500

✍ Scribed by Brown, Peter

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; Blackwell Pub
• Year: 2006;2013,
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 688
• Series: Blackwell companions to literature and culture 42
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

A Companion to Medieval English Literature and Culture, c.1350-c.1500challenges readers to think beyond a narrowly defined canon and conventional disciplinary boundaries. A ground-breaking collection of newly-commissioned essays on medieval literature and culture.

Encourages students to think beyond a narrowly defined canon and conventional disciplinary boundaries. Reflects the erosion of the traditional, rigid boundary between medieval and early modern literature. Stresses the importance of constructing contexts for reading literature. Explores the extent to which medieval literature is in dialogue with other cultural products, including the literature of other countries, manuscripts and religion. Includes close readings of frequently-studied texts, including texts by Chaucer, Langland, the Gawain poet, and Hoccleve. Confronts some of the controversies that exercise students of medieval literature, such as those connected with literary theory, love, and chivalry and war.

✦ Table of Contents

A Companion to Medieval English Literature and Culture C.1350–C.1500......Page 5
Contents......Page 7
List of Illustrations......Page 11
Notes on Contributors......Page 12
Acknowledgements......Page 17
Abbreviations......Page 18
Introduction......Page 21
PART I Overviews......Page 27
1. Critical Approaches......Page 29
2. English Society in the Later Middle Ages: Deference, Ambition and Conflict......Page 45
3. Religious Authority and Dissent......Page 60
4. City and Country, Wealth and Labour......Page 76
5. Women's Voices and Roles......Page 94
PART II The Production and Reception of Texts......Page 111
6. Manuscripts and Readers......Page 113
7. From Manuscript to Modern Text......Page 127
8. Translation and Society......Page 143
PART III Language and Literature......Page 161
9. The Languages of Medieval Britain......Page 163
10. The Forms of Speech......Page 179
11. The Forms of Verse......Page 196
PART IV Encounters with Other Cultures......Page 217
12. England and France......Page 219
13. Britain and Italy: Trade, Travel, Translation......Page 235
14. England's Antiquities: Middle English Literature and the Classical Past......Page 251
15. Jews, Saracens, 'Black Men', Tartars: England in a World of Racial Difference......Page 267
PART V Special Themes......Page 291
16. War and Chivalry......Page 293
17. Literature and Law......Page 312
18. Images......Page 327
19. Love......Page 342
PART VI Genres......Page 359
20. Middle English Romance......Page 361
21. Writing Nation: Shaping Identity in Medieval Historical Narratives......Page 378
22. Dream Poems......Page 394
23. Lyric......Page 407
24. Literature of Religious Instruction......Page 426
25. Mystical and Devotional Literature......Page 443
26. Accounts of Lives......Page 457
27. Medieval English Theatre: Codes and Genres......Page 474
28. Morality and Interlude Drama......Page 493
PART VII Readings......Page 509
29. York Mystery Plays......Page 511
30. The Book of Margery Kempe......Page 527
31. Julian of Norwich......Page 542
32. Piers Plowman......Page 557
33. Subjectivity and Ideology in the Canterbury Tales......Page 574
34. John Gower and John Lydgate: Forms and Norms of Rhetorical Culture......Page 589
35. Thomas Hoccleve, La Male Regle......Page 605
36. Discipline and Relaxation in the Poetry of Robert Henryson......Page 624
37. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight......Page 639
38. Blood and Love in Malory's Morte Darthur......Page 654
Index......Page 669

✦ Subjects

History