Medieval Literature on Display : Heritage and Culture in Modern Germany

How is the medieval world depicted today? Two German museums serve as case studies for a vibrant, imaginative, and provocative enactment of twenty-first century medievalism: the Museum Wolfram von Eschenbach in Wolframs Eschenbach (1995) and the Nibelung Museum in Worms (2001). Emerging around the turn of the 20th century, the museums explore medieval German literature, cultural memory and local history. As the museums reconstruct and transform medieval narratives for the contemporary audience, they enact the process of medievalism: they reveal how memory, through the lens of the middle ages, shapes modern cultural identity and heritage. __Medieval Literature on Display__ thereby contributes to important conversations about medievalism's role in constructing and affirming cultural identity, in conceptualizing and finding places for the future of the past. This unique book is vital reading for scholars of medieval literature and historians of medieval Europe, as well as scholars of visual culture and museum studies. "How is the medieval world depicted today? Two German museums serve as case studies for a vibrant, imaginative, and provocative enactment of twenty-first century medievalism: the Museum Wolfram von Eschenbach in Wolframs Eschenbach (1995) and the Nibelung Museum in Worms (2001). Emerging around the turn of the 20th century, the museums explore medieval German literature, cultural memory and local history. As the museums reconstruct and transform medieval narratives for the contemporary audience, they enact the process of medievalism: they reveal how memory, through the lens of the middle ages, shapes modern cultural identity and heritage. Medieval Literature on Display thereby contributes to important conversations about medievalism's role in constructing and affirming cultural identity, in conceptualizing and finding places for the future of the past. This unique book is vital reading for scholars of medieval literature and historians of medieval Europe, as well as scholars of visual culture and museum studies."-- Provided by publisher How has the medieval world been depicted in the present day? This book uses two German museums - the Museum Wolfram von Eschenbach and the Nibelung Museum - as case studies for a vibrant, imaginative, and provocative enactment of 21st-century medievalism. Emerging around the turn of the 20th century, the museums explore medieval German literature, cultural memory and local history. This book shows how, in reconstructing and transforming medieval narratives for a contemporary audience, the museums enact the process of medievalism: it reveals how memory, through the lens of the Middle Ages, shapes modern cultural identity and heritage. Cover Contents List of Figures Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Wolframs-Eschenbach: A Statue and a Story 1 Medievalism and Memory 2 Adapting Medieval Narratives 3 A Knight at the Museum: Medieval Literature and/as Local Heritage at the Museum Wolfram von Eschenbach 4 The Machinery of Myth: The Nibelung Museum and the Interrogation of Cultural Memory 5 Presencing the Narrative Past: Old Structures, New Stories? 6 The Future of the Past: Medieval Literature on Display Notes Bibliography Index