Narrative Subversion in Medieval Literature
Published on 15. July 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-0-7864-7778-4 (ISBN)
Description
A story that follows a simple trajectory is seldom worth telling. But the unexpected overturning of narrative progress creates complexity and interest, directing the reader's attention to the most powerful elements of a story.
Exile, for example, upsets a protagonist's hopes for a happy earthly life, emphasizing spiritual perception instead. Waking life interrupts dreams, just as dreams may redirect how one lives.
Focusing on medieval literature, this study explores how narrative subversion works in such well known stories as Beowulf, Piers Plowman, Le Morte D'Arthur, The Canterbury Tales, Troylus and Criseyde, "Voluspa" and other Old Norse sagas, Grail quest romances, and many others.
Exile, for example, upsets a protagonist's hopes for a happy earthly life, emphasizing spiritual perception instead. Waking life interrupts dreams, just as dreams may redirect how one lives.
Focusing on medieval literature, this study explores how narrative subversion works in such well known stories as Beowulf, Piers Plowman, Le Morte D'Arthur, The Canterbury Tales, Troylus and Criseyde, "Voluspa" and other Old Norse sagas, Grail quest romances, and many others.
Reviews / Votes
"Narrative Subversion in Medieval Literature is readable and teachable... As a theory, Risden's notion of 'narrative subversion' is portable and not overly abstract, complicated, or technical, allowing it to be understood and applied... Coverage of so many varieties of medieval literature makes the book potentially useful... easily digestible"-Studies in Medieval and Renaissance TeachingMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Jefferson, NC
United States
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
notes, bibliography, index
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
290 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7864-7778-4 (9780786477784)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
E.L. Risden, emeritus professor of English at St. Norbert College, lives in De Pere, Wisconsin, where he continues to write literary and movie scholarship, speculative fiction, and occasional poetry.
Content
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface-Narrative Subversion: A Step Toward a Simple
Theory of Narrative
1-Lost in the -Not-So-Funhouse: Subversive Threads in the Medieval Narrative Labyrinth
2-Narrative Subversion and the Solutionless Problem
3-An Aesthetics of Subversion in Beowulfian Narrative
4-Subverting Authority: Dryht, Allegory and Old English Exile Poems
5-Subverting Ends: Death and the Dead-or Not-in Voeluspa and Some Sagas
6-Grail Quest Romances: Subverting a Happy Ending
7-Plowing, Bowing, Burning, Journeying: Penance and Subverting Penance in Medieval Literature
8-Malory's Morte: Subverting the World's Greatest Knight
9-Troilus and Cressida and Subverting Genre
Postscript-Meta-, Para-, Neo-, Socio-phrase: Gavin Douglas's -Sub-versive Eneados
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Preface-Narrative Subversion: A Step Toward a Simple
Theory of Narrative
1-Lost in the -Not-So-Funhouse: Subversive Threads in the Medieval Narrative Labyrinth
2-Narrative Subversion and the Solutionless Problem
3-An Aesthetics of Subversion in Beowulfian Narrative
4-Subverting Authority: Dryht, Allegory and Old English Exile Poems
5-Subverting Ends: Death and the Dead-or Not-in Voeluspa and Some Sagas
6-Grail Quest Romances: Subverting a Happy Ending
7-Plowing, Bowing, Burning, Journeying: Penance and Subverting Penance in Medieval Literature
8-Malory's Morte: Subverting the World's Greatest Knight
9-Troilus and Cressida and Subverting Genre
Postscript-Meta-, Para-, Neo-, Socio-phrase: Gavin Douglas's -Sub-versive Eneados
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index