{"product_id":"written-work-langland-labor-and-authorship-hardback-9780812233964","title":"Written Work; Langland, Labor, and Authorship (Hardback) 9780812233964","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eWritten Work\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eLangland, Labor, and Authorship\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eSteven Justice (Edited by), Kathryn Kerby-Fulton (Edited by)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812233964\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 29 September 1997\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e358 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCritics of \u003ci\u003ePiers Plowman\u003c\/i\u003e have often behaved as if the great fourteenth-century English poem were written by committee, \u003ci\u003eWritten Work\u003c\/i\u003e marks a major shift in orientation by focusing on William Langland instead of \u003ci\u003ePiers Plowman\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e The five original historicist studies collected here are less concerned with searching for Langland's identity in medieval records than with examining the marks, even scars, left on him by the history he touched. Derek Pearsall studies what Langland knew about London-its geography, economics, and social life-and the way his focus on the city shifted in the course of revising the poem. Kathryn Kerby-Fulton examines the conditions for authorship and publishing in late fourteenth-century England and uncovers evidence of Langland's struggles to attract patronage and maintain control over the text and circulation of Piers.\u003cbr\u003e Anne Middleton's stunning chapter explores how the long shadow of fourteenth-century labor laws fell across Langland as he reworked his text. Ralph Hanna III examines the conflicting demands of manual and intellectual labor on the poet, while Lawrence M. Clopper uncovers the deep impressions that contemporary controversies about Franciscan poverty made on Langland and his life-work. Each of the chapters unfolds from Langland's apologia, the extraordinary autobiographical passage unique to the last of the three distinct versions of \u003ci\u003ePiers Plowman\u003c\/i\u003e that have come down to us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52555706761496,"sku":"9780812233964","price":44.46,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/written-work-langland-labor-and-authorship-hardback-9780812233964","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}