
Thinking of the Medieval
Midcentury Intellectuals and the Middle Ages
Cambridge University Press
Published on 13. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
359 pages
978-1-108-74876-6 (ISBN)
Description
The mid-twentieth century gave rise to a rich array of new approaches to the study of the Middle Ages by both professional medievalists and those more well-known from other pursuits, many of whom continue to exert their influence over politics, art, and history today. Attending to the work of a diverse and transnational group of intellectuals - Hannah Arendt, Erich Auerbach, W. E. B. Du Bois, Frantz Fanon, Erwin Panofsky, Simone Weil, among others - the essays in this volume shed light on these thinkers in relation to one another and on the persistence of their legacies in our own time. This interdisciplinary collection gives us a fuller and clearer sense of how these figures made some of their most enduring contributions with medieval culture in mind. Thinking of the Medieval is a timely reminder of just how vital the Middle Ages have been in shaping modern thought.
Reviews / Votes
'This fascinating volume promises to make a valuable intervention in medieval studies and a rich and challenging contribution to our understanding of the life of the Middle Ages in modernity.' Josh Davies, King's College LondonMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Edition type
New edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
481 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-74876-6 (9781108748766)
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
Other editions
Additional editions

Benjamin A. Saltzman | R. D. Perry
Thinking of the Medieval
Midcentury Intellectuals and the Middle Ages
Book
10/2022
Cambridge University Press
€102.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Benjamin A. Saltzman is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Chicago. R. D. Perry is Assistant Professor, Department of English and Literary Arts, University of Denver.
Content
Introduction: Directions of Thought - The Middle Ages at the Mid-century R. D. Perry and Benjamin A. Saltzman; Part I. Politics: 1. Outside History: Fanon's Negative Manicheism D. Vance Smith; 2. 'The noblest blood God ever made': W. E. B. Du Bois's Medievalism in the Contexts of the World Wars Cord J. Whitaker; 3. Ernst Kantorowicz, Carl Schmitt, and the University of California Regents Nancy van Deusen; 4. Hannah Arendt's Middle Ages for the Left R. D. Perry; Part II. Arts: 5. Curtius and Jung: Commonplaces, Archetypes, and Literature's Collective Unconscious Emily V. Thornbury; 6. Old English at the Midcentury: Poetry, Scholarship, and Fiction in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s Clare A. Lees; 7. Erwin Panofsky's Neo-Kantian Humanism and the Purported Relation between Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism C. Oliver O'Donnell; 8. 'Are women human?': Authority, Gender, and Dante in Dorothy L. Sayers's Scholarship Helen Brookman; Part III. Epochs: 9. Periodization Trouble: Auerbach, Huizinga, and the Question of Medieval Realism Jane O. Newman; 10. Medieval Mysticism and the Making of Simone Weil Anna Kelner; 11. Hermeneutics and the Medieval Horizon: Zumthor, Jauss, Barthes, and Gadamer Benjamin A. Saltzman; Afterword Martin Jay; Bibliography; Index.