Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature

Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature PDF Author: Larissa Tracy
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 1843843935
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book

Book Description
A new look at the way in which medieval European literature depicts torture and brutality.

Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature

Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature PDF Author: Larissa Tracy
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 1843843935
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book

Book Description
A new look at the way in which medieval European literature depicts torture and brutality.

Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature

Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature PDF Author: Automobile Association
Publisher: D. S. Brewer
ISBN: 9781846158209
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book

Book Description
An ugly subject, but one that needs to be treated thoroughly and comprehensively, with a discreet wit and no excessive relish. These needs are richly satisfied in Larissa Tracy's bold and important book. DEREK PEARSALL, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University. Torture - that most notorious aspect of medieval culture and society - has evolved into a dominant mythology, suggesting that the Middle Ages was a period during which sadistic torment was inflicted on citizens with impunity and without provocation: popular museums displaying such gruesome implements as the rack, the strappado, the gridiron, the wheel, and the Iron Maiden can be found in many modern European cities. These lurid images of medieval torture have re-emerged within recent discussions on American foreign policy and the introduction of torture legislation as a weapon in the "War on Terror", and raised questions about its history and reality, particularly given its proliferation in some literary genres and its relative absence in others. This book challenges preconceived ideas about the prevalence of torture and judicial brutality in medieval society by arguing that their portrayal in literature is not mimetic. Instead, it argues that the depictions of torture and brutality represent satire, critique and dissent; they have didactic and political functions in opposing the status quo. Torture and brutality are intertextual literary motifs that negotiate cultural anxieties of national identity; by situating these practices outside their own boundaries in the realm of the barbarian "Other", medieval and early-modern authors define themselves and their nations in opposition to them. Works examined range from Chaucer to the Scandinavian sagas to Shakespeare, enabling a true comparative approach to be taken. Larissa Tracy is Associate Professor, Longwood University.

Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages

Castration and Culture in the Middle Ages PDF Author: Larissa Tracy
Publisher: DS Brewer
ISBN: 184384351X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Get Book

Book Description
Essays exploring medieval castration, as reflected in archaeology, law, historical record, and literary motifs. Castration and castrati have always been facets of western culture, from myth and legend to law and theology, from eunuchs guarding harems to the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century castrati singers. Metaphoric castration pervadesa number of medieval literary genres, particularly the Old French fabliaux - exchanges of power predicated upon the exchange or absence of sexual desire signified by genitalia - but the plain, literal act of castration and its implications are often overlooked. This collection explores this often taboo subject and its implications for cultural mores and custom in Western Europe, seeking to demystify and demythologize castration. Its subjects includearchaeological studies of eunuchs; historical accounts of castration in trials of combat; the mutilation of political rivals in medieval Wales; Anglo-Saxon and Frisian legal and literary examples of castration as punishment; castration as comedy in the Old French fabliaux; the prohibition against genital mutilation in hagiography; and early-modern anxieties about punitive castration enacted on the Elizabethan stage. The introduction reflects on these topics in the context of arguably the most well-known victim of castration in the middle ages, Abelard. LARISSA TRACY is Associate Professor of Medieval Literature at Longwood University. Contributors: Larissa Tracy, Kathryn Reusch, Shaun Tougher, Jack Collins, Rolf H. Bremmer Jr, Jay Paul Gates, Charlene M. Eska, Mary A. Valante, Anthony Adams, Mary E. Leech, Jed Chandler, Ellen Lorraine Friedrich, Robert L.A. Clark, Karin Sellberg, LenaWånggren

Heads Will Roll

Heads Will Roll PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004222286
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Get Book

Book Description
The decapitation motif recurs in nearly all medieval and early modern genres, from saints' lives and epics to comedies and romances, yet decollation is often little regarded, save as a marker of humanity (that is, as the moment mortality exits) or inhumanity (that is, as the moment the supernatural enters). However, as a seat of reason, wisdom, and even the soul, the head has long been afforded a special place in the body politic, even when separated from its body proper. Capitalizing upon the enduring fascination with decapitation in European culture, this collection examines--through a variety of critical lenses--the recurring "roles/rolls" of severed human heads in the medieval and early modern imagination. Contributors are Nicola Masciandaro, Mark Faulkner, Jay Paul Gates, Christine Cooper-Rompato, Dwayne Coleman, Mary Leech, Tina Boyer, Renée Ward, Andrew Fleck, Thomas Herron, Thea Cervone, and Asa Simon Mittman. Preface by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen.

Heads Will Roll

Heads Will Roll PDF Author: Larissa Tracy
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004211551
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 387

Get Book

Book Description
Capitalizing upon the enduring fascination with decapitation in European culture, this collection examines--through a variety of critical lenses--the recurring "roles/rolls" of severed human heads in the medieval and early modern imagination.

Flaying in the Pre-modern World

Flaying in the Pre-modern World PDF Author: Larissa Tracy
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843844524
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 426

Get Book

Book Description
The practice and the representation of flaying in the middle ages and after are considered in this provocative collection.

Violence in Medieval Courtly Literature

Violence in Medieval Courtly Literature PDF Author: Albrecht Classen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135876347
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 390

Get Book

Book Description
Although courtly literature is often associated with a chivalrous and idyllic life, the fifteen original essays in this collection demonstrate that the quest for love in the world of medieval courtly literature was underpinned by violence. Lovers were rejected, mistrust ruled, rape was a rampant problem, and marriage was often characterized by brutality. Albrecht Classen brings together an outstanding group of historical, cultural, and literary scholars in this volume to investigate the complicated, nuanced, and often surprising unions of love and violence in courtly medieval literature.

Treason

Treason PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004400699
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Get Book

Book Description
Set against the framework of modern political concerns, Treason: Medieval and Early Modern Adultery, Betrayal, and Shame considers the various forms of treachery in a variety of sources, including literature, historical chronicles, and material culture creating a complex portrait of the development of this high crime.

Reading Skin in Medieval Literature and Culture

Reading Skin in Medieval Literature and Culture PDF Author: K. Walter
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137084642
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book

Book Description
Skin is a multifarious image in medieval culture: the material basis for forming a sense of self and relation to the world, as well as a powerful literary and visual image. This book explores the presence of skin in medieval literature and culture from a range of literary, religious, aesthetic, historical, medical, and theoretical perspectives.

A History of Violence

A History of Violence PDF Author: Robert Muchembled
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 0745647472
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Get Book

Book Description
Presents a history of violence in Europe and discusses the theory that violence has actually been in decline since the thirteenth century.