New essays attempt to survey and map out the increasingly significant discipline of medievalism. Medievalism has been attracting considerable scholarly attention in recent years. But it is also suffering from something of an identity crisis. Where are its chronological and geographical boundaries? How does it relate to the Middle Ages? Does it comprise neomedievalism, pseudomedievalism, and other "medievalisms"?
'Studies in Medievalism XVII' directly addresses these and related questions via a series of specially-commissioned essays from some of the most well-known scholars in the field; they explore its origins, survey the growth of the subject, and attempt various definitions. The volume then presents seven articles that often test the boundaries of medievalism: they look at echoes of medieval bestiaries in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, the influence of the 'Niebelungenlied' on Wagner's 'Ring' cycle, representations of King Alfred in two works by Dickens, medieval tropes in John Bale's Reformist plays, authenticity in Sigrid Undset's novel 'Kristin Lavransdatter', incidental medievalism in Handel's opera 'Rodelinda', and editing in the audio version of Seamus Heaney's 'Beowulf'.
Author(s): Karl Fugelso (ed.)
Publisher: D. S. Brewer
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 264
City: Cambridge
Editorial Note / Karl Fugelso xi
I: Defining Medievalism(s): Some Perspective(s)
The Founding and the Founder: Medievalism and the Legacy of Leslie J. Workman / Kathleen Verduin 1
Medievalism: Its Linguistic History in Nineteenth-Century Britain / Clare A. Simmons 28
Medievalism and Medieval Reception: A Terminological Question / Nils Holger Petersen 36
Medievalisms and Why They Matter / Tom Shippey 45
Medievalism, Authority, and the Academy / Gwendolyn A. Morgan 55
The Tropes of Medievalism / M. J. Toswell 68
Medievalism and the Middle Ages / Elizabeth Emery 77
Medievalism from Here / Karl Fugelso 86
II: Interpretations
A Steam-Whistle Modernist?: Representations of King Alfred in Dickens’s 'A Child’s History of England' and 'The Battle of Life' / / Emily Walker Heady 92
Writing Medieval Women (and Men): Sigrid Undset’s 'Kristin Lavransdatter' / Mark B. Spencer 112
J. K. Rowling’s Medieval Bestiary / Gail Orgelfinger 141
Seamus Heaney’s Audio 'Beowulf': An Analysis of the Omissions / Douglas Ryan VanBenthuysen 161
The King’s Phantom: Staging Majesty in Bale’s 'Kynge Johan' / Thea Cervone 185
Rodelinda Goes Opera: The Lombard Queen’s Journey from Medieval Backstage to Händel’s “dramma per musica” / Werner Wunderlich 203
'The Ring of the Nibelung' and the 'Nibelungenlied': Wagner’s Ambiguous Relationship to a Source / Edward R. Haymes 218
Notes on Contributors 247
