{"product_id":"ancient-weeds-contours-of-popular-and-trash-literature-in-ancient-and-medieval-times-9788024654720","title":"Ancient Weeds: Contours of Popular and Trash","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book blurs the line between high and low culture throughout literary history.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The common story in literary studies is that the emergence of popular and junk literature is related to the emergence of modern society due to the rise of literacy and the shortening of workdays. \u003ci\u003eAncient Weeds\u003c\/i\u003e upends this misconception by demonstrating that antiquity had its fair share of literary pieces that fit the definition of popular, trivial, and junk literature. The authors analyze artifacts such as the ancient Egyptian Turin Papyrus, ancient love novels, Christian hagiographies and passion plays, lives of Jesus and Marian hymns, Byzantine parodies of liturgical procedure, Old Norse tales and lying sagas, Arabic maqams, and Spanish blind romances. Through numerous excerpts, it becomes clear that the line between junk and high literature is thinner than it seems. They reveal how seemingly low themes such as sex and violence often overlap with the themes of high literature. In many cases, low literature is more imaginative and subversive than canonical texts, and bizarreness and non-conformity do not necessarily equate to the ephemerality of a work. As \u003ci\u003eAncient Weeds\u003c\/i\u003e shows, thousands of years after it was written, low literature can still be a great source of entertainment today.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Cannibal priestesses and toilet demons… while earlier literary historians saw tales with such features as products of barbaric taste, this book reevaluates such harsh criticism… In fact, over the course of the chapters, the authors show that the boundary between trash literature and high literature is not as clearly defined as it may seem and provide a convincing case that so-called low themes, like sex and violence, constantly intersect with those used in the highest and most artistic literature.” * iLiteratura.cz *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAncient and Modern Weeds: an Attempt at a Definition\u003cbr\u003ePopular Literature and Pulp Fiction in Ancient Egypt\u003cbr\u003eThe Ancient Love Novel: Formula and its Innovation\u003cbr\u003eEarly Christian Passion Texts as Popular Literature?\u003cbr\u003eThe Paradox of High Popular Art and Formulaic Creativity in the Sagas of Icelanders\u003cbr\u003eCoal-Biters and Their Journey Out: Popular Features of Old Norse Short Narratives\u003cbr\u003eThe Author, Schema and Originality: the Case of Old Norse Lying Sagas\u003cbr\u003eFormulaic Elements and Structures in Central European Medieval Religious Drama\u003cbr\u003eAlfonso X’s Attempt to Create Literature “for the People”\u003cbr\u003eA Term Lacking in Specificty: Late Medieval Popular Literature\u003cbr\u003eRomances of the Blind as Pulp Fiction","brand":"Karolinum,Nakladatelstvi Univerzity Karlovy,Czech Republic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51045565038935,"sku":"9788024654720","price":34.2,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9788024654720.jpg?v=1750965035","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/ancient-weeds-contours-of-popular-and-trash-literature-in-ancient-and-medieval-times-9788024654720","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}