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Equine Medicine explores a seldom-studied trove of English veterinary manuals, illuminating how the daily care of horses in late medieval England reshapes our understanding of equine representation in romance; human anxieties, desires, even orientation in daily life were often figured through horses.
Equine Medicine and Popular Romance in Late Medieval England explores a seldom-studied trove of English veterinary manuals, illuminating how the daily care of horses they describe reshapes our understanding of equine representation in the popular romance of late medieval England. A saint removes a horse’s leg the more easily to shoe him; a wild horse transforms spur wounds into the self-healing practice of bleeding; a messenger calculates time through his horse’s body. Such are the rich and conflicted visions of horse/human connection in the period. Exploring this imagined relation, Francine McGregor reveals a cultural undercurrent in which medieval England is so reliant on equine bodies that human anxieties, desires, and very orientation in daily life are often figured through them. This book illuminates the complex and contradictory yearnings shaping medieval perceptions of the horse, the self, and the identities born of their affinity.
The essays in this interdisciplinary volume explore language, broadly construed, as part of the continued interrogation of the boundaries of human and nonhuman animals in the Middle Ages. Uniting a diverse set of emerging and established scholars, Animal Languages questions the assumed medieval distinction between humans and other animals. The chapters point to the wealth of non-human communicative and discursive forms through which animals function both as vehicles for human meaning and as agents of their own, demonstrating the significance of human and non-human interaction in medieval texts, particularly for engaging with the Other. The book ultimately considers the ramifications of deconstructing the medieval anthropocentric view of language for the broader question of human singularity.
Fama, or fame, is a central concern of late medieval literature. Where fame came from, who deserved it, whether it was desirable, how it was acquired and kept were significant inquiries for a culture that relied extensively on personal credit and reputation. An interest in fame was not new, being inherited from the classical world, but was renewed and rethought within the vernacular revolutions of the later Middle Ages. The work of Geoffrey Chaucer shows a preoccupation with ideas on the subject of fama, not only those received from the classical world but also those of his near contemporaries; via an engagement with their texts, he aimed to negotiate a place for his own work in the literary...
Presents a collection of critical essays on the works of Ralph Ellison.
A comparative analysis, this study examines the interactions of early modern male and female writers within the context of literary circles. In particular, Campbell examines how the querelle des femmes as a discursive rhetorical tradition of praise and blame influenced perceptions of well-educated women who were part of literary circles in Italy, France, and England from approximately 1530 to 1650. To gain a better sense of how querelle language and issues were used for or against learned women writers, Campbell aligns selected works by female and male writers, pairing them to analyze how the woman writer responds, deflects, or rewrites the male writer's ideological script on women. She focu...
"Public Piers Plowman is divided into two parts. The first is an extended essay on what Benson calls the "Langland myth." He traces the evolution of Piers scholarship and demonstrates the limitations of treating Piers as a direct expression of the poet's experience and intellectual views." "In the second part Benson offers an alternative history for the poem. Benson approaches it from a broader public context, using representative examples from vernacular writing, parish art, and civic practices. He argues that Piers reached a wide contemporary audience because, far from being an account only of the author's own life and opinions, it was securely rooted in the common culture of its time and place."--Jacket.
Presents a collection of interpretations of Ralph Ellison's novel, "Invisible man."
Charlotte Cushman, one of the great actors of 19th century American theatre, was a lesbian who kept her identity hidden by focusing her career on male characters (Romeo, Claude Melnotte, Wolsey), and also on strong and passionate women (Lady Macbeth, Bianca in Fazio, and Queen Katherine in Henry VIII). This biography is an authoritative record of Cushman's life and performances, showing how her complex gender identity illuminates and is illuminated by 19th century theatre critical views. Part One is a biography; Part Two is a performance history listing all of Cushman's known performances, often with a description of her role and critical commentary.