Our current ecological crises compel us not only to understand how contemporary media shapes our conceptions of human relationships with the environment, but also to examine the historical genealogies of such perspectives. Written during the onset of the Little Ice Age in Britain, Middle English romances provide a fascinating window into the worldviews of popular vernacular literature (and its audiences) at the close of the Middle Ages. Andrew M. Richmond shows how literary conventions of romances shaped and were in turn influenced by contemporary perspectives on the natural world. These popular texts also reveal widespread concern regarding the damaging effects of human actions and climate change. The natural world was a constant presence in the writing, thoughts, and lives of the audiences and authors of medieval English romance – and these close readings reveal that our environmental concerns go back further in our history and culture than we think.
Author(s): Andrew M. Richmond
Series: Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 290
City: Cambridge
Cover
Half-title page
Series page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
Acknowledgments
Note on Copyright
List of Abbreviations
Digging into Romance: An Introduction
Chapter
1 A (Disappearing?) World of Opportunity
Chapter
2 Chasing the Surf
Chapter
3 Across the Sea
Chapter
4 “In His Contrie at Hame”
Conclusion: The Singing “Bonkes” of Britain
Notes
Bibliography
Index
