Middle English Marvels

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Middle English Marvels

Author : Tara Williams
Publisher : Penn State Press
Page : 185 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2018-03-14
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780271081786

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Middle English Marvels by Tara Williams Pdf

This multidisciplinary volume illustrates how representations of magic in fourteenth-century romances link the supernatural, spectacle, and morality in distinctive ways. Supernatural marvels represented in vivid visual detail are foundational to the characteristic Middle English genres of romance and hagiography. In Middle English Marvels, Tara Williams explores the didactic and affective potential of secular representations of magic and shows how fourteenth-century English writers tested the limits of that potential. Drawing on works by Augustine, Gervase of Tilbury, Chaucer, and the anonymous poets of Sir Orfeo and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, among others, Williams examines how such marvels might convey moral messages within and beyond the narrative. She analyzes examples from both highly canonical and more esoteric texts and examines marvels that involve magic and transformation, invoke visual spectacle, and invite moral reflection on how one should relate to others. Within this shared framework, Williams finds distinct concerns—chivalry, identity, agency, and language—that intersect with the marvelous in significant ways. Integrating literary and historical approaches to the study of magic, this volume convincingly shows how certain fourteenth-century texts eschewed the predominant trends and developed a new theory of the marvelous. Williams’s engaging, erudite study will be of special interest to scholars of the occult, the medieval and early modern eras, and literature.

Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages

Author : Jacques Le Goff
Publisher : Reaktion Books
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2020-09-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9781789142129

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Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages by Jacques Le Goff Pdf

Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages is a history like no other: it is a history of the imagination, presented between two celebrated groups of the period. One group consists of heroes: Charlemagne, El Cid, King Arthur, Orlando, Pope Joan, Melusine, Merlin the Wizard, and also the fox and the unicorn. The other is the miraculous, represented here by three forms of power that dominated medieval society: the cathedral, the castle, and the cloister. Roaming between the boundaries of the natural and the supernatural, between earth and the heavens, the medieval universe is illustrated by a shared iconography, covering a vast geographical span. This imaginative history is also a continuing story, which presents the heroes and marvels of the Middle Ages as the times defined them: venerated, then bequeathed to future centuries where they have continued to live and transform through remembrance of the past, adaptation to the present, and openness to the future.

The Book of Marvels

Author : Larisa Grollemond,Kelin Michael,Elizabeth Morrison,Joshua O'Driscoll
Publisher : J. Paul Getty Museum
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2024-06-18
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1606069039

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The Book of Marvels by Larisa Grollemond,Kelin Michael,Elizabeth Morrison,Joshua O'Driscoll Pdf

This fascinating volume explores an important fifteenth-century illustrated manuscript tradition that provides a revealing glimpse of how western Europeans conceptualized the world. From the classical encyclopedias of Pliny to famous tales such as The Travels of Marco Polo, historical travel writing has had a lasting impact, despite the fact that it was based on a curious mixture of truth, legend, and outright superstition. One foundational medieval source that expands on the ancient idea of the "wonders of the world" is the fifteenth-century French Book of the Marvels of the World, an illustrated guide to the globe filled with oddities, curiosities, and wonders--tales of fantasy and reality intended for the medieval armchair traveler. The fifty-six locales featured in the manuscript are presented in a manner that suggests authority and objectivity but are rife with stereotypes and mischaracterizations, meant to simultaneously instill a sense of wonder and fear in readers. In The Book of Marvels, the authors explore the tradition of encyclopedias and travel writing, examining the various sources for geographic knowledge in the Middle Ages. They look closely at the manuscript copies of the French text and its complex images, delving into their origins, style, content, and meaning. Ultimately, this volume seeks to unpack how medieval white Christian Europeans saw their world and how the fear of difference--so pervasive in society today--is part of a long tradition stretching back millennia. This volume is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from June 11 to September 1, 2024, and at the Morgan Library & Museum from January 24 to May 25, 2025.

The Book of Marvels and Travels

Author : John Mandeville
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2012-09-13
Category : Travel
ISBN : 9780191629105

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The Book of Marvels and Travels by John Mandeville Pdf

'Another island in the Great Ocean has many sinful and malevolent women, who have precious gems in their eyes.' In his Book of Marvels and Travels, Sir John Mandeville describes a journey from Europe to Jerusalem and on into Asia, and the many wonderful and monstrous peoples and practices in the East. He tells us about the Sultan in Cairo, the Great Khan in China, and the mythical Christian prince Prester John. There are giants and pygmies, cannibals and Amazons, headless humans and people with a single foot so huge it can shield them from the sun . Forceful and opinionated, the narrator is by turns bossy, learned, playful, and moralizing, with an endless curiosity about different cultures. Written in the fourteenth century, the Book is a captivating blend of fact and fantasy, an extraordinary travel narrative that offers some revealing and unexpected attitudes towards other races and religions. It was immensely popular, and numbered among its readers Chaucer, Columbus, and Thomas More. Anthony Bale's new translation emphasizes the book's readability, and his introduction and notes bring us closer to Mandeville's medieval worldview. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages

Author : Jacques Le Goff
Publisher : Reaktion Books
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2020-06-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781789142501

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Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages by Jacques Le Goff Pdf

Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages is a history like no other: it is a history of the imagination, presented between two celebrated groups of the period. One group consists of heroes: Charlemagne, El Cid, King Arthur, Orlando, Pope Joan, Melusine, Merlin the Wizard, and also the fox and the unicorn. The other is the miraculous, represented here by three forms of power that dominated medieval society: the cathedral, the castle, and the cloister. Roaming between the boundaries of the natural and the supernatural, between earth and the heavens, the medieval universe is illustrated by a shared iconography, covering a vast geographical span. This imaginative history is also a continuing story, which presents the heroes and marvels of the Middle Ages as the times defined them: venerated, then bequeathed to future centuries where they have continued to live and transform through remembrance of the past, adaptation to the present, and openness to the future.

A Companion to Old and Middle English Literature

Author : Laura Lambdin,Robert Thomas Lambdin
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 447 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2002-06-30
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780313011115

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A Companion to Old and Middle English Literature by Laura Lambdin,Robert Thomas Lambdin Pdf

Old and Middle English literature can be obscure and challenging. So, too, can the vast body of criticism it has elicited. Yet the masters of medieval literature often drew on similar texts, since imitation was admired. For this reason, recent scholarship has often focused on the importance of genre. The genre in which a work was written can illuminate the author's intentions and the text's meaning. Read in light of a genre's parameters, a given work can be considered in relation to other works within the same category. This reference is a comprehensive overview of Old and Middle English literature. Chapters focus on particular genres, such as Allegorical Verse, Balladry, Beast Fable, Chronicle, Debate Poetry, Epic and Heroic, Lyric, Middle English Parody/Burlesque, Religious and Allegorical Verse, and Romance. Expert contributors define the primary characteristics of each genre and discuss relevant literary works. Chapters provide extensive reviews of scholarship and close with detailed bibliographies. A more thorough bibliography of major scholarly studies closes the book.

Medieval Marvels and Fictions in the Latin West and Islamic World

Author : Michelle Karnes
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 259 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2022-07-12
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780226819761

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Medieval Marvels and Fictions in the Latin West and Islamic World by Michelle Karnes Pdf

A cross-cultural study of magical phenomena in the Middle Ages. Marvels like enchanted rings and sorcerers’ stones were topics of fascination in the Middle Ages, not only in romance and travel literature but also in the period’s philosophical writing. Rather than constructions of belief accepted only by simple-minded people, Michelle Karnes shows that these spectacular wonders were near impossibilities that demanded scrutiny and investigation. This is the first book to analyze a diverse set of writings on such wonders, comparing texts from the Latin West—including those written in English, French, Italian, and Castilian Spanish —with those written in Arabic as it works toward a unifying theory of marvels across different disciplines and cultures. Karnes tells a story about the parallels between Arabic and Latin thought, reminding us that experiences of the strange and the unfamiliar travel across a range of genres, spanning geographical and conceptual space and offering an ideal vantage point from which to understand intercultural exchange. Karnes traverses this diverse archive, showing how imagination imbues marvels with their character and power, making them at once enigmatic, creative, and resonant. Skirting the distinction between the real and unreal, these marvels challenge readers to discover the highest capabilities of both nature and the human intellect. Karnes offers a rare comparative perspective and a new methodology to study a topic long recognized as central to medieval culture.

The Monstrous Middle Ages

Author : Bettina Bildhauer,Robert Mills
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2003-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 0802086675

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The Monstrous Middle Ages by Bettina Bildhauer,Robert Mills Pdf

The figure of the monster in medieval culture functions as a vehicle for a range of intellectual and spiritual inquiries, from questions of language and representation to issues of moral, theological, and cultural value. Monstrosity is bound up with questions of body image and deformity, nature and knowledge, hybridity and horror. To explore a culture's attitudes to the monstrous is to comprehend one of its most important symbolic tools. The Monstrous Middle Ages looks at both the representation of literal monsters and the consumption and exploitation of monstrous metaphors in a wide variety of high and late-medieval cultural productions, from travel writings and mystical texts to sermons, manuscript illuminations and maps. Individual essays explore the ways in which monstrosity shaped the construction of gender and sexual identity, religious symbolism, and social prejudice in the Middle Ages. Reading the Middle Ages through its monsters provides an opportunity to view medieval culture from fresh perspectives. The Monstrous Middle Ages will be essential reading for anyone interested in the concept of monstrosity and its significance for both medieval cultural production and contemporary critical practice.

Manmade Marvels in Medieval Culture and Literature

Author : S. Lightsey
Publisher : Springer
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2007-08-06
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780230605640

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Manmade Marvels in Medieval Culture and Literature by S. Lightsey Pdf

This book examines marvels as tangible objects in the literary, courtly, and artisanal cultures of medieval England, but these clever devices, neither wholly semiotic nor purely positivist objects, are imbued with diverse cultural significance that illuminates in new ways the familiar literature of the Ricardian period.

Wonder and Skepticism in the Middle Ages

Author : Keagan Brewer
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2016-01-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317430346

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Wonder and Skepticism in the Middle Ages by Keagan Brewer Pdf

Wonder and Skepticism in the Middle Ages explores the response by medieval society to tales of marvels and the supernatural, which ranged from firm belief to outright rejection, and asks why the believers believed, and why the skeptical disbelieved. Despite living in a world whose structures more often than not supported belief, there were still a great many who disbelieved, most notably scholastic philosophers who began a polemical programme against belief in marvels. Keagan Brewer reevaluates the Middle Ages’ reputation as an era of credulity by considering the evidence for incidences of marvels, miracles and the supernatural and demonstrating the reasons people did and did not believe in such things. Using an array of contemporary sources, he shows that medieval responders sought evidence in the commonality of a report, similarity of one event to another, theological explanations and from people with status to show that those who believed in marvels and miracles did so only because the wonders had passed evidentiary testing. In particular, he examines both emotional and rational reactions to wondrous phenomena, and why some were readily accepted and others rejected. This book is an important contribution to the history of emotions and belief in the Middle Ages.

Marvels, Monsters, and Miracles

Author : Timothy S. Jones,David A. Sprunger
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Animals, Mythical
ISBN : UOM:39015055202132

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Marvels, Monsters, and Miracles by Timothy S. Jones,David A. Sprunger Pdf

This collection of essays examines medieval and early modern perceptions of the marvelous and the monstrous. The essays investigate the nature of those phenomena and how people of these periods experienced them and how they recreated that experience for others. The essays trace the development of representations of marvels and explicate individual incarnations of monster and miracles. They analyze the importance of marvelous difference in defining ethnic, racial, religious, class, and gender identities to ask what legacy the medieval confrontations with marvels left for the modern world. These excellent essays look at issues that have long perplexed readers, such as the meaning of marvels, and whether we can read them in earnest or whether they can be appreciated only as play. The different authors bring their expertise to the fore to discuss the development of thoughts on marvels from the classical tradition through the concept's development in the medieval and early modern tradition. This collection is essential reading for any analysis of the marvelous in these periods and the state of scholarship surrounding them.

Imagination and Fantasy in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Time

Author : Albrecht Classen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 820 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2020-08-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9783110693669

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Imagination and Fantasy in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Time by Albrecht Classen Pdf

The notions of other peoples, cultures, and natural conditions have always been determined by the epistemology of imagination and fantasy, providing much freedom and creativity, and yet have also created much fear, anxiety, and horror. In this regard, the pre-modern world demonstrates striking parallels with our own insofar as the projections of alterity might be different by degrees, but they are fundamentally the same by content. Dreams, illusions, projections, concepts, hopes, utopias/dystopias, desires, and emotional attachments are as specific and impactful as the physical environment. This volume thus sheds important light on the various lenses used by people in the Middle Ages and the early modern age as to how they came to terms with their perceptions, images, and notions. Previous scholarship focused heavily on the history of mentality and history of emotions, whereas here the history of pre-modern imagination, and fantasy assumes center position. Imaginary things are taken seriously because medieval and early modern writers and artists clearly reveal their great significance in their works and their daily lives. This approach facilitates a new deep-structure analysis of pre-modern culture.

Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance

Author : Corinne J. Saunders
Publisher : Boydell & Brewer
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781843842217

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Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance by Corinne J. Saunders Pdf

"This study looks at a wide range of medieval Englisih romance texts, including the works of Chaucer and Malory, from a broad cultural perspective, to show that while they employ magic in order to create exotic, escapist worlds, they are also grounded in a sense of possibility, and reflect a complex web of inherited and current ideas." --Book Jacket.

What Kind of a Thing Is a Middle English Lyric?

Author : Cristina Maria Cervone
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 561 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2022-08-30
Category : Literary Collections
ISBN : 9780812298512

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What Kind of a Thing Is a Middle English Lyric? by Cristina Maria Cervone Pdf

What Kind of a Thing Is a Middle English Lyric? considers issues pertaining to a corpus of several hundred short poems written in Middle English between the twelfth and early fifteenth centuries. The chapters draw on perspectives from varied disciplines, including literary criticism, musicology, art history, and cognitive science. Since the early 1900s, the poems have been categorized as “lyrics,” the term now used for most kinds of short poetry, yet neither the difficulties nor the promise of this treatment have received enough attention. In one way, the book argues, considering these poems to be lyrics obscures much of what is interesting about them. Since the nineteenth century, lyrics have been thought of as subjective and best read without reference to cultural context, yet nonetheless they are taken to form a distinct literary tradition. Since Middle English short poems are often communal and usually spoken, sung, and/or danced, this lyric template is not a good fit. In another way, however, the very differences between these poems and the later ones on which current debates about the lyric still focus suggest they have much to offer those debates, and vice versa. As its title suggests, this book thus goes back to the basics, asking fundamental questions about what these poems are, how they function formally and culturally, how they are (and are not) related to other bodies of short poetry, and how they might illuminate and be illuminated by contemporary lyric scholarship. Eleven chapters by medievalists and two responses by modernists, all in careful conversation with one another, reflect on these questions and suggest very different answers. The editors’ introduction synthesizes these answers by suggesting that these poems can most usefully be read as a kind of “play,” in several senses of that word. The book ends with eight “new Middle English lyrics” by seven contemporary poets.

Marvel and Artefact

Author : A. J. Ford
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2015-11-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9789004301399

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Marvel and Artefact by A. J. Ford Pdf

Marvel and Artefact examines the manuscripts of Wonders of the East (London, BL, Cotton Vitellius A. xv; London, BL, Cotton Tiberius B. v; and Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 614); codex, text and image are studied together as a single artefact.