The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Literature 1100–1500

A wide-ranging survey of the most important medieval authors and genres, designed for students of English.

Larry Scanlon (Edited by)

9780521841672, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 June 2009

316 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2 cm, 0.63 kg

'Scanlon's Companion brings together an impressive cast of contributors and provides its reader with an authoritative and accessible guide to the study of Middle English literature today.' De Gruyter

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.

Chronology
Introduction Larry Scanlon
Part I. Contexts, Genres, and Traditions: 1. Re-inventing English: Middle English language and its literature Wendy Scase
2. Textual production and textual communities Richard Firth Green
3. Religious writing: hagiography, pastoralia, devotional and contemplative works Richard Newhauser
4. Romance Christine Chism
5. Dialogue, debate, and dream vision Steven F. Kruger
6. Drama Sarah Beckwith
7. Lyric Ardis Butterfield
8. Lollard writings Rita Copeland
Part II. Authors: 9. William Langland Ralph Hanna
10. The Gawain-Poet Sarah Stanbury
11. John Gower Diane Watt
12. Geoffrey Chaucer Larry Scanlon
13. Julian of Norwich Lynn Staley
14. Thomas Hoccleve Ethan Knapp
15. John Lydgate James Simpson
16. Margery Kempe Rebecca Krug
17. Sir Thomas Malory David Wallace
18. Robert Henryson Sally Mapstone
Guide to further reading.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literature & literary studies [D]