The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Literature 1100-1500

by Edited by Larry Scanlon

• ISBN13: 9780521602587
• ISBN10: 0521602580
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-07-20
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The medieval period was one of extraordinary literary achievement sustained over centuries of great change, anchored by the Norman invasion and its aftermath, the re-emergence of English as the nation's leading literary language in the fourteenth century and the advent of print in the fifteenth. This Companion spans four full centuries to survey this most formative and turbulent era in the history of literature in English. Exploring the period's key authors - Chaucer, Langland, the Gawain-Poet, Margery Kempe, among many - and genres - plays, romances, poems and epics - the book offers an overview of the riches of medieval writing. The essays map out the flourishing field of medieval literary studies and point towards new directions and approaches. Designed to be accessible to students, the book also features a chronology and guide to further reading.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	p. vii
Contributors	p. ix
Chronology	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Contexts, Genres, and Traditions
Re-inventing the vernacular: Middle English language and its literature	p. 11
Textual production and textual communities	p. 25
Religious writing: hagiography, pastoralia, devotional and contemplative works	p. 37
Romance	p. 57
Dialogue, debate, and dream vision	p. 71
Drama	p. 83
Lyric	p. 95
Lollard writings	p. 111
Authors
William Langland	p. 125
The Gawain-poet	p. 139
John Gower	p. 153
Geoffrey Chaucer	p. 165
Julian of Norwich	p. 179
Thomas Hoccleve	p. 191
John Lydgate	p. 205
Margery Kempe	p. 217
Sir Thomas Malory	p. 229
Robert Henryson	p. 243
Guide to further reading	p. 257
Index	p. 279
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