Wiley A Handbook of Middle English Studies: 4 (Critical Theory Handbooks)

From the Inside Flap A Handbook to Middle English Studies presents a series of original essays that explore and analyze the relationship between critical theory and late medieval literature. Featuring contributions from a variety of literary experts and emerging scholars, readings demonstrate the vitality and rich diversity of medieval literary studies. Essays on well-known but still crucial issues such as authorship, gender, and race are included, as well as readings that examine areas only recently coming under critical scrutiny such as globalization, the environment, and animality. A diverse selection of well-known works and more obscure medieval texts are considered, including the poetry of Chaucer, The Book of Margery Kempe, Piers Plowman, Mandeville’s Travels, and various romances of the period. Collectively, the readings demonstrates that the manuscript culture of late medieval literature raises a number of key theoretical issues, and  build upon important recent work revealing how modern critical theory is often rooted in medieval scholarship. Product Description A Handbook of Middle English Studies“This sharp-minded, coherent set of essays both maps and liberates: not only does it map the intellectual territory of contemporary cultural debate; it also liberates the extraordinary texts of later medieval England to move across that contemporary cultural terrain.”James Simpson, Harvard University “Marion Turner has skilfully choreographed an exciting ensemble of fresh accounts of the English Middle Ages. We see the period in a new light that shows with compassion and imagination, as well as thoughtful scholarship, how the literature of the past speaks to contemporary preoccupations.”Ardis Butterfield, Yale University “Strikingly original: theory-literate and materially-grounded ways of reading Middle English texts.”David Wallace, University of Pennsylvania A Handbook of Middle English Studies presents twenty-six original and accessible essays by leading scholars, analyzing the relationship between critical theory and late-medieval literature. The collection offers a range of entry points into the rich field of medieval literary studies, exploring subjects including the depiction of the self and the mind, the literature of conquest, ideas of beauty and aesthetics, and the relationship between place and literature. Topics that have long been central to the field, such as authorship, gender, and race, feature alongside areas only recently coming under critical scrutiny, such as globalization, the environment, and animality. Collectively, the essays demonstrate that the manuscript culture of late medieval literature raises key theoretical issues concerning the relationship between authors, texts, and readers. A Handbook of Middle English Studies models diverse approaches to medieval texts and stakes a claim in debates about topics ranging from class to the canon, from imagination to nationhood, from sexuality to the public sphere. Review “This sharp-minded, coherent set of essays both maps and liberates: not only does it map the intellectual territory of contemporary cultural debate; it also liberates the extraordinary texts of later medieval England to move across that contemporary cultural terrain.”—James Simpson, Harvard University “Marion Turner has skilfully choreographed an exciting ensemble of fresh accounts of the English middle ages. We see the period in a new light that shows with compassion and imagination, as well as thoughtful scholarship, how the literature of the past speaks to contemporary preoccupations.”—Ardis Butterfield, Yale Unviersity“Strikingly original: theory-literate and materially-grounded ways of reading Middle English texts.”—David Wallace, University of Pennyslvania From the Back Cover “This sharp-minded, coherent set of essays both maps and liberates: not only does it map the intellectual territory of contemporary cultural debate; it also liberates the extraor