Narrative subversion in medieval literature / E.L. Risden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Risden, Edward L., 1957- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature, Medieval--History and criticism.

Literature, Medieval.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

vi, 186 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., [2016]

Summary:

A story that follows a simple trajectory is seldom worth telling. But the unexpected overturning of narrative progress creates complexity and interest, directing the reader's attention to the most powerful elements of a story. Exile, for example, upsets a protagonist's hopes for a happy earthly life, emphasizing spiritual perception instead. Waking life interrupts dreams, just as dreams may redirect how one lives. Focusing on medieval literature, this study explores how narrative subversion works in such well known stories as Beowulf, Piers Plowman, LeMorte D'Arthur, The Canterbury Tales, Troylus and Criseyde, "Völuspá" and other Old Norse sagas, Grail quest romances, and many others. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Lost in the Not-So-Funhouse: Subversive Threads in the Medieval Narrative Labyrinth 15

2 Narrative Subversion and the Solutionless Problem 38

3 An Aesthetics of Subversion in Beowulfian Narrative 49

4 Subverting Authority: Dryht, Allegory and Old English Exile Poems 62

5 Subverting Ends: Death and the Dead-or Not-in Völuspá and Some Sagas 76

6 Grail Quest Romances: Subverting a Happy Ending 88

7 Plowing, Bowing, Burning, Journeying: Penance and Subverting Penance in Medieval Literature 103

8 Malory's Morte: Subverting the World's Greatest Knight 113

9 Troilus and Cressida and Subverting Genre 124.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-182) and index.

ISBN:

0786477784

9780786477784

OCLC:

947925888