Medieval Literature, 1300-1500 (edinburgh Critical Guides To Literature)

Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature Series Editors: Martin Halliwell and Andy Mousley This series provides accessible yet provocative introductions to a wide range of literatures. The volumes will initiate and deepen the reader’s understanding of key literary movements, periods and genres, and consider debates that inform the past, present and future of literary study. Resources such as glossaries of key terms and details of archives and internet sites are also provided, making each volume a comprehensive critical guide. King MEDIEVAL LITERATURE 1300–1500 Medieval Literature 1300–1500 offers close readings of Middle English texts placed within the culture with which they interact. Famous works, like The Canterbury Tales, are discussed alongside lesser-known poems, prose and plays, in five thematically organised chapters, accompanied by helpful critical apparatus. Reflecting the proliferation of user-friendly editions, many available on-line, this book extends the range of Middle English writing for which there is accessible up-to-date critical support, enabling the student, the general reader, the course designer, and the aspirant specialist to read widely and with enjoyment in the medieval period. Key Features • • • • Offers succinct close-readings of well-known texts of the period Provides cultural-historical background to England in the Middle Ages Reflects on the construction of an English literary ‘tradition’ Cross-references literary texts against historical events and other art forms Pamela King is Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Bristol. Her monograph on The York Mystery Cycle and the Worship of the City won the David Bevington and Beatrice White prizes. ISBN 978 0 7486 3460 6 Cover design: Michael Chatfield Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press 22 George Square Edinburgh EH8 9LF www.euppublishing.com Pamela King Provisional spine width 15mm - unconfirmed at 18/11/10 Edinburgh Critical Guides Medieval literature can be daunting. This critical guide is designed to help readers to relax in the company of diverting and entertaining voices from that ‘other country’ that is the past. MEDIEVAL LITERATURE 1300–1500 Edinburgh Critical Guides Pamela King MEDIEVAL LITERATURE 1300–1500 Medieval Literature 1300–1500 M2445 - KING TEXT.indd i 08/02/2011 16:07 Edinburgh Critical Guides to Literature Series Editors: Martin Halliwell, University of Leicester and Andy Mousley, De Montfort University Published Titles: Gothic Literature, Andrew Smith Canadian Literature, Faye Hammill Women’s Poetry, Jo Gill Contemporary American Drama, Annette J. Saddik Shakespeare, Gabriel Egan Asian American Literature, Bella Adams Children’s Literature, M. O. Grenby Contemporary British Fiction, Nick Bentley Renaissance Literature, Siobhan Keenan Scottish Literature, Gerard Carruthers Contemporary American Fiction, David Brauner Contemporary British Drama, David Lane Medieval Literature 1300–1500, Pamela King Victorian Literature, David Amigoni Contemporary Poetry, Nerys Williams Forthcoming Titles in the Series: Resto