A ground-breaking collection of newly-commissioned essays on medieval literature and culture.
- Encourages students to think beyond a narrowly defined canon and conventional disciplinary boundaries.
- Reflects the erosion of the traditional, rigid boundary between medieval and early modern literature.
- Stresses the importance of constructing contexts for reading literature.
- Explores the extent to which medieval literature is in dialogue with other cultural products, including the literature of other countries, manuscripts and religion.
- Includes close readings of frequently-studied texts, including texts by Chaucer, Langland, the Gawain poet, and Hoccleve.
- Confronts some of the controversies that exercise students of medieval literature, such as those connected with literary theory, love, and chivalry and war.