Graceful narratives : making space and time in middle English literature / Rebecca Davis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davis, Rebecca Ann, 1977- author.

Series:

Oxford studies in medieval literature and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

English literature.

Grace (Aesthetics) in literature.

English literature--History and criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Other Title:

Making space and time in middle English literature

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2026]

Summary:

Graceful Narratives argues that the concept of grace functions as a form of literary theory in late-medieval English texts, generating dilated, deliberative narratives that resist linear plotting and create space for alternative outcomes. Drawing on theological, legal, and courtly contexts, Davis demonstrates that grace operates not merely as a thematic concern but as a formal principle that suspends temporal flow, disrupts predetermined plots, and enables narrative transformation. The book examines six canonical Middle English works in which grace plays a pivotal role: Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, The Tale of Melibee, and The Franklin's Tale; Julian of Norwich's Revelation of Love; Langland's Piers Plowman; and The Castle of Perseverance. Like lyric poetry, these graceful narratives resist temporal pressures associated with linearity and plottedness, forestalling closure and opening paths towards reconciliation and amendment.

Contents:

Cover

Graceful Narratives : Making Space and Time in Middle English Literature

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Contents

Introduction

Grace and Lyric Suspension

"Chaunge your thought": Grace as Narrative Turning Point

Contexts for Grace

Grace and Gender

Mapping the Graceful Narrative

1 : "Who-so wol grace": Space-Making and Narrative Agency in Troilus and Criseyde

Boethius, the Inherited Plot, and "The Poetry of Grace"

"[T]his thing axeth leyser": Middleness and the Ends of Narrative

The Room in the Middle of the Poem.

Lyric Moves

Cantici Troili-­et Criseydae ?

Letters and Grace

2 : "We axen leyser and espace" : Narrative Grace in Chaucer's Franklin's Tale and Melibee

"Is there noon oother grace in yow?": Opening a Space for Story in The Franklin's Tale

Narrative Middleness

"Thise stories beren witnesse": Open Temporality, Catalogue, and Alternative Possibilities

"The rokkes been aweye": Metafiction and Not Checking

From Rupture to Reconciliation: Grace and Sovereignty in The Tale of Melibee

"[W]han she saugh hir tyme": Prudence, Proverbs, and Narrative Grace.

3 : Dwelling in Grace : The Gift of Space and Time in Julian's Revelation of Love

Why "Space and Time"?

The Work of Grace

Kinde, Courtesy, (En)closure

Grace and Revision

"The same langer time": The Lord and Servant and Julian's Expansive Literary Practice

4 : Making a "goed ende": Grace, Narrative, and Revision in Langland's Piers Plowman

Searching for Grace in Piers Plowman

"Of Amendes engendred": Mede and Grace

Amendment and Narrative

"Thorw grace at þe laste": Unlocking the Closed Plot.

5 : "Al growyn ful of grace": Theatrical Space, Poetic Form, and Dwelling in The Castle of Perseverance

"Where may I dwelle?": Public Liminality and the Play-Space

"Sum place of sureté": Dwelling in the Stanza

Sin and Form

Heavenly Speech and Redemptive Forms

"Man, thynke on thyn endynge day": Concatenation and Grace

Epilogue

Appendix

Works Cited

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on July 29, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version : Davis, Rebecca Ann, 1977- Graceful narratives.

ISBN:

9780197903490

0197903495

9780197903469

0197903460

OCLC:

1591619841

Publisher Number:

CIPO000391856

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license