The Laughter of the Saints

Reviews / Votes

?;A provocative study?Through interesting analyses, The Laughter of the Saints documents how humour and sanctity coincided in medieval and early modern texts without provoking scandal but rather causing audiences, well familiar with the cults of the saints, to reflect upon the link between the sacred and the profane, the saint and the sinner.? - Jane E. Connolly; Bulletin of Spanish Studies; vol88:04:2011 ?The Laughter of the Saints offers a compelling examination of medieval and early- modern parodies of saints? Giles' book is valuable to folklorists in its cultural and textual contextualization of Spanish religious parodies, many of which draw upon rich folklore traditions.? - Steve Stanzak: Journal of Folklore Research; June 23, 2011 ?This is an invaluable work of scholarship which sheds significant new light on the literary uses of saints and their learned and festive connotations in medieval and Golden Age texts? It will allow scholars to appreciate and recreate a prism of reading that was once commonplace but has been eroded by the desuetude of hagiography and the eradication of popular sacred parody. ? - Jonathan Bradbury; The Modern language Review: vol 106:04:2011 'This volume taught me a lot and had me smiling while I was learning. What more could a reader ask for? ' - Ronald E. Surtz, Speculum: a Journal of Medieval Studies; vol 86: 04: 2011 'Giles's study offers an imaginative and well-researched exploration of 'the kind of humour that was being suppressed and exploited by authorities at the dawn of the modern age', arguing convincingly that the parodic use of saints and religious imagery provided 'a carnivalsque model for the lives of picaros and other modernizing anti-heroes.' - Andrea Weisl-Shaw, Medium Aevum; vol 80(1) (16)