Middle English Marvels
Magic, Spectacle, and Morality in the Fourteenth Century
Seiten
2019
Pennsylvania State University Press (Verlag)
978-0-271-07964-6 (ISBN)
Pennsylvania State University Press (Verlag)
978-0-271-07964-6 (ISBN)
A multidisciplinary interpretation of representations of magic in fourteenth-century romances, and how these texts link magic, spectacle, and morality in distinctive ways. By representing supernatural marvels in vivid visual detail, these texts encourage reactions of wonder that have moral effects within and beyond the narrative.
This multidisciplinary volume illustrates how representations of magic in fourteenth-century romances link the supernatural, spectacle, and morality in distinctive ways.
Supernatural marvels represented in vivid visual detail are foundational to the characteristic Middle English genres of romance and hagiography. In Middle English Marvels, Tara Williams explores the didactic and affective potential of secular representations of magic and shows how fourteenth-century English writers tested the limits of that potential. Drawing on works by Augustine, Gervase of Tilbury, Chaucer, and the anonymous poets of Sir Orfeo and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, among others, Williams examines how such marvels might convey moral messages within and beyond the narrative. She analyzes examples from both highly canonical and more esoteric texts and examines marvels that involve magic and transformation, invoke visual spectacle, and invite moral reflection on how one should relate to others. Within this shared framework, Williams finds distinct concerns—chivalry, identity, agency, and language—that intersect with the marvelous in significant ways.
Integrating literary and historical approaches to the study of magic, this volume convincingly shows how certain fourteenth-century texts eschewed the predominant trends and developed a new theory of the marvelous. Williams’s engaging, erudite study will be of special interest to scholars of the occult, the medieval and early modern eras, and literature.
This multidisciplinary volume illustrates how representations of magic in fourteenth-century romances link the supernatural, spectacle, and morality in distinctive ways.
Supernatural marvels represented in vivid visual detail are foundational to the characteristic Middle English genres of romance and hagiography. In Middle English Marvels, Tara Williams explores the didactic and affective potential of secular representations of magic and shows how fourteenth-century English writers tested the limits of that potential. Drawing on works by Augustine, Gervase of Tilbury, Chaucer, and the anonymous poets of Sir Orfeo and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, among others, Williams examines how such marvels might convey moral messages within and beyond the narrative. She analyzes examples from both highly canonical and more esoteric texts and examines marvels that involve magic and transformation, invoke visual spectacle, and invite moral reflection on how one should relate to others. Within this shared framework, Williams finds distinct concerns—chivalry, identity, agency, and language—that intersect with the marvelous in significant ways.
Integrating literary and historical approaches to the study of magic, this volume convincingly shows how certain fourteenth-century texts eschewed the predominant trends and developed a new theory of the marvelous. Williams’s engaging, erudite study will be of special interest to scholars of the occult, the medieval and early modern eras, and literature.
Tara Williams is Associate Dean of the Honors College and Associate Professor of English at Oregon State University and the author of Inventing Womanhood: Gender and Language in Later Middle English Writing.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Marvels Matter
1. Mirroring Otherworlds: Fairy Magic, Wonder, and Morality
2. Revealing Spectacles: Virtue and Identity in Fair Unknowns
3. Moving Marvels: Action and Agency in Courtly Spectacles
4. Talking Magic: Chaucer’s Spectacles of Language
Conclusion: How Marvels Matter
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Erscheinungsdatum | 07.08.2019 |
---|---|
Zusatzinfo | 4 Halftones, black and white |
Verlagsort | University Park |
Sprache | englisch |
Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
Gewicht | 281 g |
Themenwelt | Literatur ► Lyrik / Dramatik ► Lyrik / Gedichte |
Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter | |
Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik | |
Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft | |
ISBN-10 | 0-271-07964-9 / 0271079649 |
ISBN-13 | 978-0-271-07964-6 / 9780271079646 |
Zustand | Neuware |
Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
eine neue Geschichte des Mittelalters
Buch | Hardcover (2023)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
38,00 €
unterwegs mit Pilgern, Rittern, Abenteurern
Buch | Hardcover (2024)
S. Fischer (Verlag)
28,00 €