Description
Book SynopsisThis concise companion examines contexts that are essential to understanding and interpreting writing in English produced in the period between approximately 1100 and 1500. The essays in the book explore ways in which Middle English literature is 'different' from the literature of other periods.
Trade Review"This new concise companion engages with the difficulties of periodization but nonetheless asserts that there is a scholarly volue to considering 'Middle English Literature' as a discrete body of texts, written between c.1100 and c.1500. And indeed, this wonderfully erudite and readable volume proves this point." (
Notes and Queries, 1 June 2011)
"All of the essays examine canonical writers and texts but also discuss writers and works that are infrequently taught in traditional undergraduate (or even graduate) survey courses, and this is an encouraging move." (CHOICE, 2009)
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations vii
List of Contributors viii
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
Marilyn Corrie
Part I Key Contexts 7
1 Signs and Symbols 9
Barry Windeatt
2 Religious Belief 32
Marilyn Corrie
3 Women and Literature 54
Catherine Sanok
4 The Past 77
Andrew Galloway
Part II The Production of Middle English Literature 97
5 Production and Dissemination 99
Alexandra Gillespie
6 The Author 120
Jane Griffiths
Part III Writing in Middle English; Writing in England 143
7 Language 145
Jeremy J. Smith
8 Translation and Adaptation 166
Helen Cooper
9 Contemporary Events 188
Helen Barr
Part IV Middle English Literature in the Post- Medieval World 209
10 Manuscripts and Modern Editions 211
Daniel Wakelin
11 The Afterlife of Middle English Literature 232
David Matthews
Index 253
