The Routledge Companion to Medieval English Literature offers a new, inclusive, and comprehensive context to the study of medieval literature written in the English language from the Norman Conquest to the end of the Middle Ages. Utilising a Trans-European context, this volume includes essays from leading academics in the field across linguistic and geographic divides. Extending beyond the traditional scholarly discussions of insularity in relation to Middle English literature and ‘isolationism’, this volume:
- Oversees a variety of genres and topics, including cultural identity, insular borders, linguistic interactions, literary gateways, Middle English texts and traditions, and modern interpretations such as race, gender studies, ecocriticism, and postcolonialism.
- Draws on the combined extensive experience of teaching and research in medieval English and comparative literature within and outside of anglophone higher education and looks to the future of this fast-paced area of literary culture.
- Contains an indispensable section on theoretical approaches to the study of literary texts.
This Companion provides the reader with practical insights into the methods and approaches that can be applied to medieval literature and serves as an important reference work for upper-level students and researchers working on English literature.
Author(s): Raluca Radulescu, Sif Rikhardsdottir
Series: Routledge Literature Companions
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 499
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
List of Figures
Abbreviations
Note on Referencing
General Introduction: Medieval English Literature in Trans-European and Global Contexts
Part I The Forms of Literature: Introduction
Chapter 1 Orality, Vocality, and Textuality
Chapter 2 Vernacularity
Chapter 3 Books and Materiality
Chapter 4 Form and Genre
Part II Insular Borders, Linguistic Interactions: Introduction
Chapter 5 Middle Welsh
Chapter 6 Irish
Chapter 7 Scots
Chapter 8 Multilingualism
Part III Literary Gateways: Introduction
Chapter 9 ‘Travel’ of the Mind via Study: translatio studii et imperii
Chapter 10 ‘Travel’ of the Soul via Religiosity: Imaginary and Actual Pilgrimages
Chapter 11 French-Speaking Courts and Literary Dominance in Europe
Chapter 12 The Norman Rule
Chapter 13 The Venetian Gateway: Commerce, Plague, Oriental Motifs
Chapter 14 Origination and Mediation: Sicily
Chapter 15 Islamic Pathways and Imaginary Borders
Chapter 16 Mercantile Networks
Chapter 17 Maps and the Medieval World at Large
Part IV Middle English Texts and Traditions: Introduction
Chapter 18 The Endurance of Early English Literary Traditions
Chapter 19 Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Chronicle Tradition
Chapter 20 Marie de France and Middle English Romance
Chapter 21 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Alliterative Tradition
Chapter 22 Geoffrey Chaucer
Chapter 23 John Gower
Chapter 24 William Langland: European Poet?
Chapter 25 Hoccleve and Lydgate: Transnationalism and Tradition
Chapter 26 Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, and Female Spirituality
Chapter 27 The Middle English Lyrics in Their European Context
Chapter 28 Medieval English Drama and Performance
Chapter 29 Thomas Malory
Chapter 30 Hagiography
Part V The Modern Middle Ages: Introduction
Chapter 31 Emotion
Chapter 32 Race
Chapter 33 Gender/Queer
Chapter 34 Postcolonialism
Chapter 35 Ecocriticism
Chapter 36 Human/Animal
Chapter 37 Medievalism
Timeline
Index
Index of Manuscripts
