{"product_id":"the-gift-of-narrative-in-medieval-england-9781526139917","title":"The Gift of Narrative in Medieval England","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis invigorating study places medieval romance narrative in dialogue with theories and practices of gift and exchange, opening new approaches to questions of storytelling, agency, gender and materiality in some of the most engaging literature from the Middle Ages. It argues that the dynamics of the gift are powerfully at work in romances: through exchanges of objects and people; repeated patterns of love, loyalty and revenge; promises made or broken; and the complex effects that time works on such objects, exchanges and promises. Ranging from the twelfth century to the fifteenth, and including close discussions of poetry by Chaucer, the \u003ci\u003eGawain-\u003c\/i\u003ePoet and romances in the Auchinleck Manuscript, this book will prompt new ideas and debate amongst students and scholars of medieval literature, as well as anyone curious about the pleasures that romance narratives bring.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e'The depth of Perkins’s engagements with anthropological thought in particular should make the book of some interest to scholars who do not specialize in later Middle English, especially those curious to learn more about the intersection of anthropology and literature more broadly ... Perkins juggles an impressive number of very different disciplinary and otherwise theoretical apparatuses alongside his own consistent dedication to closely parsing the texts of medieval poems and their manuscript contexts, and his book will give all readers much matter to ponder in its own vibrant life in circulation. Its polish and wide ambit show it to be the product of long reflection, and I am sure it will prove newly productive and generative in the hands of readers.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Medieval Review \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Perkins has written an engaging and well-informed study of the relationship between gift giving and reciprocity within Middle English romances. What sets this book apart from other scholarly endeavors on theories of the gift in medieval literature is its focus on genre and the ways in which the form of the text and the text's audience are inherently interconnected. Perkins's readings of the works that constitute the Horn legend are exemplary and add much to that tradition. Scholars of Chaucer's \u003ci\u003eTroilus and Criseyde \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Franklin's Tale\u003c\/i\u003e, Lydgate's \u003ci\u003eTroy Book\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eGawain\u003c\/i\u003e-poet will find this volume to be indispensable.'  \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCHOICE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReprinted with permission from Choice Reviews. All rights reserved. Copyright by the American Library Association    \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Nicholas Perkins’s book is itself a gift, in which the elusive phenomenon  of the gifted object has found its ideal, answering intelligence:  lucidly scrupulous; attuned as much to the book as gift as to the gift  in books; and ready to draw as much on anthropology as on the material  history of the book. Like all gifts, it’s radiant.'\u003cbr\u003eJames Simpson, Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English, Harvard University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘In this incisive study of the intricate patterns of narrative, selfhood, gifts, objects and bodies in medieval English romance, Nicholas Perkins develops the concept and practice of speculative anthropology, balancing theoretical insight with wonderful textual analysis. Perkins moves with grace and confidence between different layers of literary and social meaning, between text and manuscript context and between the constitution of objects and subjects through narrative exchange in romance texts. \u003ci\u003eThe gift of narrative\u003c\/i\u003e is a wonderful exploration of the ways medieval romances circulate gifts, people, bodies and obligations that are both emotional and social.’\u003cbr\u003eStephanie Trigg, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor of English, University of Melbourne\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'In this remarkable study, the gift figures as nothing less than the founding gesture of romance and the impulse that drives these stories forward, in the process drawing readers themselves into the cycle of generosity and giving rise to responses in the form of new texts. Perkins’ writing is frequently delightful. It’s a daring project whose aim (in an image that recurs throughout the book) is to pry open the closed circle of self-interested exchange so a chink of refracted light can shine through, as if through a door that’s been opened just a crack, illuminating new possibilities for both reading and living. Even the most cynical readers of medieval romance will want to give their time to this book, a brilliant response to Derrida’s injunction that we try to ‘think the gift,’ and one that opens new avenues for appreciating all sorts of stories.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eArthuriana\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e -- .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e1 The gift of narrative in the romances of Horn\u003cbr\u003e2 ‘Kepe þou þat on \u0026amp; y þat oþer’: giving and keeping in Middle English romances\u003cbr\u003e3 The traffic in people: Chaucer’s \u003ci\u003eKnight’s Tale\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTroilus and Criseyde\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e4 Exchanging words and deeds: \u003ci\u003eThe Franklin’s Tale\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Manciple’s Tale\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e5 Things fall apart: the narratives of gift in Lydgate’s \u003ci\u003eTroy Book\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eConclusion\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Manchester University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51020018123095,"sku":"9781526139917","price":63.75,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781526139917.jpg?v=1750782084","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-gift-of-narrative-in-medieval-england-9781526139917","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}