Sincerity in medieval English language and literature / Graham Williams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Williams, Graham T., author.

Contributor:

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--Middle English, 1100-1500--History and criticism.

English literature.

English philology--Middle English, 1100-1500.

English philology.

English philology--Middle English.

Physical Description:

xiii, 256 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London, United Kingdom : Palgrave Macmillan, [2018]

Summary:

This book traces the development of the ideal of sincerity from its origins in Anglo-Saxon monasteries to its eventual currency in fifteenth-century familiar letters. Beginning by positioning sincerity as an ideology at the intersection of historical pragmatics and the history of emotions, the author demonstrates how changes in the relationship between outward expression and inward emotions changed English language and literature. While the early chapters reveal that the notion of sincerity was a Christian intervention previously absent from Germanic culture, the latter part of the book provides more focused studies of contrition and love. In doing so, the author argues that under the rubric of courtesy these idealized emotions influenced English in terms of its everyday pragmatics and literary style.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

1137540680

9781137540683

OCLC:

1020630435