Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance PDF Download

Author: Corinne J. Saunders
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843842211
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
"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.

Author: Michelle Sweeney
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
This book examines the roles of magic in medieval romance. Magic's crucial function in the romances may be established by studying the diverse works of Chrétien de Troyes, the Lais of Marie de France, the romances of Sir Tristrem, Syr Launfal, Ywain & Gawain and Chaucer's The Franklin's Tale. Romance authors used magical trials to explore a character' moral status and position on issues important to the community, such as when to maintain loyalty to a king or to a lover. Romance authors were able to encourage the exploration of human motivation by using magic to create, or expose a character' morally ambiguous situation. This technique enabled a broader discussion of social issues than would have been allowed in situations constrained by the boundaries of Christian dogmatism. In order to understand the function of magic in medieval romance, it is necessary to appreciate its function in the medieval world. Magic is coupled to some of the most important works of the medieval age, such as the theological texts of Augustine and Aquinas, the histories of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Wace, as well playing a significant role in medicine and the nascent studies of science. Romance writers capitalised upon the associations between magic and these fields of study to create a more serious framework for their texts. The romances could then operate beyond the level of simple entertainment and provide the interested audience with social commentary, moral analysis and material for thought on a wide variety of issues.

Author: Rosalind Field
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 184384219X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
The essays collected here show how the romances of medieval England engaged with contemporary Christian culture, and demonstrate the importance of reading them with an awareness of that culture.

Author: Tara Williams
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271081783
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
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.

Author: Venetia Bridges
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843846160
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Essays; medieval romance; Arthurian Iiterature; Elizabeth Archibald.

Author: Mark Allen
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1784996459
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 886

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Book Description
An extremely thorough, expertly compiled and crisply annotated comprehensive bibliography of Chaucer scholarship between 1997 and 2010

Author: Veronica Menaldi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000422518
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
This book explores the complexity of Iberian identity and multicultural/multi-religious interactions in the Peninsula through the lens of spells, talismans, and imaginative fiction in medieval and early modern Iberia. Focusing particularly on love magic—which manipulates objects, celestial spheres, and demonic conjurings to facilitate sexual encounters—Menaldi examines how practitioners and victims of such magic as represented in major works produced in Castile. Magic, and love magic in particular, is an exchange of knowledge, a claim to power and a deviation from or subversion of the licit practices permitted by authoritative decrees. As such, magic serves as a metaphorical tool for understanding the complex relationships of the Christian with the non-Christian. In seeking to understand and incorporate hidden secrets that presumably reveal how one can manipulate their environment, occult knowledge became one of the funnels through which cultures and practices mixed and adapted throughout the centuries.

Author: Tabitha Stanmore
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009286706
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
A ground-breaking book which introduces the concept of 'service magic' while re-evaluating magic in medieval and early modern English society.

Author: Jamie McKinstry
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843844176
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
An examination of the depiction and function of memory in a variety of romances, including Troilus and Criseyde and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Author: Sophie Page
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317042751
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description
The Routledge History of Medieval Magic brings together the work of scholars from across Europe and North America to provide extensive insights into recent developments in the study of medieval magic between c.1100 and c.1500. This book covers a wide range of topics, including the magical texts which circulated in medieval Europe, the attitudes of intellectuals and churchmen to magic, the ways in which magic intersected with other aspects of medieval culture, and the early witch trials of the fifteenth century. In doing so, it offers the reader a detailed look at the impact that magic had within medieval society, such as its relationship to gender roles, natural philosophy, and courtly culture. This is furthered by the book’s interdisciplinary approach, containing chapters dedicated to archaeology, literature, music, and visual culture, as well as texts and manuscripts. The Routledge History of Medieval Magic also outlines how research on this subject could develop in the future, highlighting under-explored subjects, unpublished sources, and new approaches to the topic. It is the ideal book for both established scholars and students of medieval magic.