A Cultural History of Tragedy in the Middle Ages (The Cultural Histories Series)

For the first time, a group of distinguished authors come together to provide an authoritative exploration of the cultural history of tragedy in the Middle Ages. Reports of the so-called death of medieval tragedy, they argue, have been greatly exaggerated; and, for the Middle Ages, the stakes couldn't be higher. Eight essays offer a blueprint for future study as they take up the extensive but much-neglected medieval engagement with tragic genres, modes, and performances from the vantage points of gender, politics, theology, history, social theory, anthropology, philosophy, economics, and media studies. The result? A recuperated medieval tragedy that is as much a branch of literature as it is of theology, politics, law, or ethics and which, at long last, rejoins the millennium-long conversation about one of the world's most enduring art forms.Each chapter takes a different theme as its focus: forms and media; sites of performance and circulation; communities of production and consumption; philosophy and social theory; religion, ritual and myth; politics of city and nation; society and family, and gender and sexuality.ISBN : 9781474287906 Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS SERIES PREFACE GENERAL EDITOR’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Introduction GENRE TROUBLE: TRAGEDY, COMEDY, AND THE CONFUSION DES GENRES HISTORIOGRAPHY TROUBLE: THAT ABSENCE WHICH IS NOT ONE AUDIENCE TROUBLE: CATHARSIS AND CONTROL CHAPTER ONE Forms and Media ANCIENT TRAGEDIES AND MEDIEVAL MEDIA FORMS OF TRAGEDY IN THE EMERGING LATIN WEST MEDIEVAL MODES OF CONVEYANCE CONCLUSION CHAPTER TWO Sites of Performance and Circulation TOWARDS A POETICS OF MEDIEVAL TRAGIC PLACE THE SONG OF SYBIL, CASTILE AND CATALONIA(THIRTEENTH THROUGH SIXTEENTH CENTURIES) FARSA DEL JUEGO DE CAÑAS , TALAVERA LA REAL (1554) DANCES OF DEATH, PAN-EUROPEAN (FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES) LLIBRE VERMELL , MONTSERRAT ( c. 1399–1400) DANÇA GENERAL DE LA MUERTE (COMPOSED c. 1392, COPIED c. 1460–80) THE CASTLE OF PERSEVERANCE, EAST ANGLIA ( c. 1440) ORDINALIA , CORNWALL (LATE FOURTEENTH CENTURY) CONCLUSION CHAPTER THREE Communities of Production and Consumption NICHOLAS TREVET, TRANSLATOR STUDII TRAGEDY’S ORIGIN: THE FALL OF ADAM CONCLUSION CHAPTER FOUR Philosophy and Social Theory I. THEORIES OF TRAGEDY IN LATE ANTIQUITY II. THE LEGACIES OF LATE ANTIQUE THEORIES OF TRAGEDY IN MEDIEVAL MUSICAL PRAXIS III. TRAGEDY AND SOCIETY IN BYZANTIUM47 IV. THEORIES OF TRAGEDY IN THE LATE MEDIEVAL WEST V. THE USES OF TRAGEDY IN MEDIEVAL COMMUNITIES: CHRISTIAN, JEWISH, AND MUSLIM CONCLUSION CHAPTER FIVE Religion, Ritual and Myth I. THEATER VS. AMPHITHEATER II. THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY FROM THE SPIRIT OF TRAGEDY III. THE TRAGEDY OF MARTYRDOM IV. THE MEDIEVAL RENASCENCE OF TRAGEDY EPILOGUE: THE SENECAN RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND CHAPTER SIX Politics of City and Nation BOETHIUS’ CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY AND OTTO OF FREISING’S CHRONICLE THE SONG OF ROLAND JOHN OF SALISBURY AND GILES OF ROME DANTE’S COMMEDIA LE ROMAN DE FAUVEL LYDGATE’S SERPENT OF DIVISION AND THOMAS MALORY’S MORTE DARTHUR CONCLUSION CHAPTER SEVEN Society and Family MEDIEVAL TRAGEDY: THINKING THE POSSIBILITIES MIXED MESSAGES MEDIEVAL TRAGEDY: A CASE STUDY MEDIEVAL TRAGEDY AND TIME CHAPTER EIGHT Gender and Sexuality THE CHURCH FATHERS HROTSVITHA AND HILDEGARD JOAN OF ARC THÉRÈSE DE LISIEUX NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX For the first time, a group of distinguished authors come together to provide an authoritative exploration of the cultural history of tragedy in the Middle Ages. Reports of the so-called death of medieval tragedy, they argue, have been greatly exaggerated; and, for the Middle Ages, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Eight essays offer a blueprint for future study as they take up the extensive but much-neglected medieval engagement with tragic genres, modes, and performances from the vantage points of gender, politics, theology, history, social theory, anthropology, philosophy, economics, and media studies. The result? A recuperated medieval tragedy that is as much a branch of literature as it is of theology, politics, law, or ethics and which, at long last, rejoins the millennium-long conversation about one of the world’s most enduring art forms. Each chapter takes a different theme as its focus: forms and media; sites of performance and circulation; communities of production and consumption; philosophy and social theory; religion, ritual and myth; politics of city and nation; society and family, and gender and sexuality. How have ideas of the tragic influenced Western culture? How has tragedy been shaped by its social and cultural conditions? In a work that spans 2,500 years, these ambitious questions are addressed by 55 experts, each contributing their overview of a theme applied to a period in history. Extending far beyond the established aesthetic tradition, the volumes describe the forms tragedy takes to represent human conflict and suffering, and how it engages with matters of philosophy, society, politics, religion and gender. Volume One covers the period 500 BCE-1000 AD How have ideas of the tragic influenced Western culture? How has tragedy been shaped by its social and cultural conditions? In a work that spans 2,500 years, these ambitious questions are addressed by 55 experts, each contributing their overview of a theme applied to a period in history. Extending far beyond the established aesthetic tradition, the volumes describe the forms tragedy takes to represent human conflict and suffering, and how it engages with matters of philosophy, society, politics, religion and gender. Volume 2 covers the period 1000-1400