The Monstrous Middle Ages

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The Monstrous Middle Ages

Author : Bettina Bildhauer,Robert Mills
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 50,9 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.

The Epistemology of the Monstrous in the Middle Ages

Author : Lisa Verner
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 186 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2005-01-07
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781135873066

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The Epistemology of the Monstrous in the Middle Ages by Lisa Verner Pdf

This book studies the phenomena of monsters and marvels from the time of Pliny the Elder through the 14th century.

The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought

Author : John Block Friedman
Publisher : Syracuse University Press
Page : 332 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2000-06-01
Category : History
ISBN : 0815628269

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The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought by John Block Friedman Pdf

Beyond the boundaries of the known Christian world during the Middle Ages, there were alien cultures that intrigued, puzzled, and sometimes frightened the people of Europe. The reports of travelers in Africa and Asia revealed that "monstrous" races of men lived there, whose appearance and customs were quite different from the European norm. This book examines the impact of these races upon Western art, literature, and philosophy, from their earliest mention until the age of exploration. Friedman furnishes a descriptive catalog of the races, most of which were real, geographically remote peoples, some of which were fabled creatures that served as symbols. He traces the evolution of European attitudes toward them, with particular emphasis on the high Middle Ages, when they seem most strongly to have captured the Western imagination. Ranging through literature, the arts, cartography, canon law, and theology, he considers the widely varying ways in which Christians viewed and depicted strange races of men. Finally, he examines transformations in European consciousness brought about by the discoveries of the exotic peoples of the Americas. Whatever their form—pygmy, giant, hirsute cave—dweller, cyclops, or Amazon-the monstrous races clearly challenged the traditional concept of man in the Christian world scheme. It is the medieval thinking about this challenge that Mr. Friedman addresses in this revealing account.

Medieval Monstrosity and the Female Body

Author : Sarah Alison Miller
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2010-07-02
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781136923500

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Medieval Monstrosity and the Female Body by Sarah Alison Miller Pdf

The medieval monster is a slippery construct, and its referents include a range of religious, racial, and corporeal aberrations. In this study, Miller argues that one incarnation of monstrosity in the Middle Ages—the female body—exists in special relation to medieval teratology insofar as it resists the customary marginalization that defined most other monstrous groups in the Middle Ages. Though medieval maps located the monstrous races on the distant margins of the civilized world, the monstrous female body took the form of mother, sister, wife, and daughter. It was, therefore, pervasive, proximate, and necessary on social, sexual, and reproductive grounds. Miller considers several significant texts representing authoritative discourses on female monstrosity in the Middle Ages: the Pseudo-Ovidian poem, De vetula (The Old Woman); a treatise on human generation erroneously attributed to Albert the Great, De secretis mulierum (On the Secrets of Women), and Julian of Norwich’s Showings. Through comparative analysis, Miller grapples with the monster’s semantic flexibility while simultaneously working towards a composite image of late-medieval female monstrosity whose features are stable enough to define. Whether this body is discursively constructed as an Ovidian body, a medicalized body, or a mystical body, its corporeal boundaries fail to form properly: it is a body out of bounds.

Monsters, Gender and Sexuality in Medieval English Literature

Author : Dana Oswald
Publisher : Boydell & Brewer
Page : 245 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781843842323

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Monsters, Gender and Sexuality in Medieval English Literature by Dana Oswald Pdf

A gendered reading of monster and the monstrous body in medieval literature. Monsters abound in Old and Middle English literature, from Grendel and his mother in Beowulf to those found in medieval romances such as Sir Gowther. Through a close examination of the way in which their bodies are sexed and gendered, and drawing from postmodern theories of gender, identity, and subjectivity, this book interrogates medieval notions of the body and the boundaries of human identity. Case studies of Wonders of the East, Beowulf, Mandeville's Travels, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, and Sir Gowther reveal a shift in attitudes toward the gendered and sexed body, and thus toward identity, between the two periods: while Old English authors and artists respond to the threat of the gendered, monstrous form by erasing it, Middle English writers allow transgressive and monstrous bodies to transform and therefore integrate into society. This metamorphosis enables redemption for some monsters, while other monstrous bodies become dangerously flexible and invisible, threatening the communities they infiltrate. These changing cultural reactions to monstrous bodies demonstrate the precarious relationship between body and identity in medieval literature. DANA M. OSWALD is Assistant Professor of English, University of Wisconsin-Parkside.

Medieval Monstrosity

Author : Charity Urbanski
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2023-10-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9780429516153

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Medieval Monstrosity by Charity Urbanski Pdf

This volume examines various manifestations and understandings of the concept of monstrosity in medieval Europe around 500-1500 ce through a collection of contextual chapters and primary sources. The main chapters focus on a specific theme, a type of monster or representation of monstrosity, and consist of a contextual essay synthesizing recent scholarship on that theme, excerpts from primary sources and a bibliography of additional primary and secondary sources on the topics addressed in the chapter. In addition to building upon the wealth of scholarship on monsters and monstrosity produced in recent decades, the book engages with the current fascination with monsters in popular culture, especially in movies, television, and video games. The book presents a survey of medieval monstrosity for a non-specialist audience and provides a theoretical framework for interpreting the monstrous. This book is ideal for undergraduate students working on the theme of monstrosity, as well as being useful for undergraduate courses that cover the supernatural and manifestations of the monstrous covered in the book. With materials drawn from a wide range of medieval sources, it will also appeal to courses in English, French, Art History, and Medieval Studies.

Monsters and Monstrosity in Jewish History

Author : Iris Idelson-Shein,Christian Wiese
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2019-02-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781350052161

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Monsters and Monstrosity in Jewish History by Iris Idelson-Shein,Christian Wiese Pdf

This is the first study of monstrosity in Jewish history from the Middle Ages to modernity. Drawing on Jewish history, literary studies, folklore, art history and the history of science, it examines both the historical depiction of Jews as monsters and the creative use of monstrous beings in Jewish culture. Jews have occupied a liminal position within European society and culture, being deeply immersed yet outsiders to it. For this reason, they were perceived in terms of otherness and were often represented as monstrous beings. However, at the same time, European Jews invoked, with tantalizing ubiquity, images of magical, terrifying and hybrid beings in their texts, art and folktales. These images were used by Jewish authors and artists to push back against their own identification as monstrous or diabolical and to tackle concerns about religious persecution, assimilation and acculturation, gender and sexuality, science and technology and the rise of antisemitism. Bringing together an impressive cast of contributors from around the world, this fascinating volume is an invaluable resource for academics, postgraduates and advanced undergraduates interested in Jewish studies, as well as the history of monsters.

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 : 41,6 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.

Maps and Monsters in Medieval England

Author : Asa Mittman
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2013-09-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9781135501044

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Maps and Monsters in Medieval England by Asa Mittman Pdf

First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Medieval Monsters

Author : Sherry C. M. Lindquist,Asa Simon Mittman
Publisher : Lion Fiction
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Curiosities and wonders in art
ISBN : 1911282182

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Medieval Monsters by Sherry C. M. Lindquist,Asa Simon Mittman Pdf

Taps into our abiding fascination with monsters and monstrosities since the Middle Ages.

Deformed Discourse

Author : David Williams
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Page : 412 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Art
ISBN : 0773518711

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Deformed Discourse by David Williams Pdf

Adult survivors of children's stories can be forgiven for thinking the only function of medieval monsters was to fail, just barely, to eat virgins and to die, just barely, under the hero's ministrations. Williams (English, McGill U.) enlarges the view, tracing the poetics of teratology, the study of monsters, to Christian neoplatonic theology, especially the concept that God cannot be known except by knowing what he is not. He also provides a taxonomy of monsters with glosses, and examines the monstrous and deformed in three heroic sagas and three saints' lives. Includes many reproductions. Canadian card order number: C96-900457-5. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Medieval Bodies

Author : Jack Hartnell
Publisher : Profile Books
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2018-03-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9781782832706

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Medieval Bodies by Jack Hartnell Pdf

A SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A triumph' Guardian 'Glorious ... makes the past at once familiar, exotic and thrilling.' Dominic Sandbrook 'A brilliant book' Mail on Sunday Just like us, medieval men and women worried about growing old, got blisters and indigestion, fell in love and had children. And yet their lives were full of miraculous and richly metaphorical experiences radically different to our own, unfolding in a world where deadly wounds might be healed overnight by divine intervention, or the heart of a king, plucked from his corpse, could be held aloft as a powerful symbol of political rule. In this richly-illustrated and unusual history, Jack Hartnell uncovers the fascinating ways in which people thought about, explored and experienced their physical selves in the Middle Ages, from Constantinople to Cairo and Canterbury. Unfolding like a medieval pageant, and filled with saints, soldiers, caliphs, queens, monks and monstrous beasts, it throws light on the medieval body from head to toe - revealing the surprisingly sophisticated medical knowledge of the time in the process. Bringing together medicine, art, music, politics, philosophy and social history, there is no better guide to what life was really like for the men and women who lived and died in the Middle Ages. Medieval Bodies is published in association with Wellcome Collection.

The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous

Author : Asa Simon Mittman,Peter J. Dendle
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 626 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2017-02-24
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781351894319

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The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous by Asa Simon Mittman,Peter J. Dendle Pdf

The field of monster studies has grown significantly over the past few years and this companion provides a comprehensive guide to the study of monsters and the monstrous from historical, regional and thematic perspectives. The collection reflects the truly multi-disciplinary nature of monster studies, bringing in scholars from literature, art history, religious studies, history, classics, and cultural and media studies. The companion will offer scholars and graduate students the first comprehensive and authoritative review of this emergent field.

Book of Beasts

Author : Elizabeth Morrison
Publisher : Getty Publications
Page : 356 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : ART
ISBN : 9781606065907

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Book of Beasts by Elizabeth Morrison Pdf

A celebration of the visual contributions of the bestiary--one of the most popular types of illuminated books during the Middle Ages--and an exploration of its lasting legacy. Brimming with lively animals both real and fantastic, the bestiary was one of the great illuminated manuscript traditions of the Middle Ages. Encompassing imaginary creatures such as the unicorn, siren, and griffin; exotic beasts including the tiger, elephant, and ape; as well as animals native to Europe like the beaver, dog, and hedgehog, the bestiary is a vibrant testimony to the medieval understanding of animals and their role in the world. So iconic were the stories and images of the bestiary that its beasts essentially escaped from the pages, appearing in a wide variety of manuscripts and other objects, including tapestries, ivories, metalwork, and sculpture. With over 270 color illustrations and contributions by twenty-five leading scholars, this gorgeous volume explores the bestiary and its widespread influence on medieval art and culture as well as on modern and contemporary artists like Pablo Picasso and Damien Hirst. Published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center May 14 to August 18, 2019.

Monstrosity, Disability, and the Posthuman in the Medieval and Early Modern World

Author : Richard H. Godden,Asa Simon Mittman
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 364 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2019-11-21
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783030254582

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Monstrosity, Disability, and the Posthuman in the Medieval and Early Modern World by Richard H. Godden,Asa Simon Mittman Pdf

This collection examines the intersection of the discourses of “disability” and “monstrosity” in a timely and necessary intervention in the scholarly fields of Disability Studies and Monster Studies. Analyzing Medieval and Early Modern art and literature replete with images of non-normative bodies, these essays consider the pernicious history of defining people with distinctly non-normative bodies or non-normative cognition as monsters. In many cases throughout Western history, a figure marked by what Rosemarie Garland-Thomson has termed “the extraordinary body” is labeled a “monster.” This volume explores the origins of this conflation, examines the problems and possibilities inherent in it, and casts both disability and monstrosity in light of emergent, empowering discourses of posthumanism.