Overview

Through an analysis of literary sources, the book explores the broad range of attitudes towards animals and the natural world current in Western Europe during the later middle ages. Because animals are neither wholly similar to, nor entirely different from, human beings, they have provided men and women with an endlessly fruitful point of departure from which to explore what it means to be human. The way in which human identity is inextricably bound up with the animal kingdom is particularly evident in medieval hagiography and romance (arguably the two most popular and prestigious genres of medieval literature), where the holiness ofsaints and the heroism of knights is frequently revealed through their miraculous encounters with wild beasts. Through an analysis of these literary sources, the book explores the broad range of attitudes towards animals and the natural world that were current in western Europe during the later middle ages. It argues that through their depictions of animals, medieval writers were not only able to reflect upon their own humanity, but were also able to explore the meaning of more abstract values and ideas (such as civility, sanctity and nobility) that were central to the culture of the time. Dr DAVID SALTER is a Lecturer in English at the University of Edinburgh.

Full Product Details

Author:   David Salter
Publisher:   Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Imprint:   D.S. Brewer
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.398kg
ISBN:  

9780859916240

ISBN 10:   0859916243
Pages:   176
Publication Date:   01 November 2001
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   Out of print, replaced by POD  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgement Introduction 1 Part 1: Return to Paradise: Animals in the Lives of the Saints 1. St Jerome and the Lion 13 2. The Patron Saint of Ecologists: St Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio 30 3. Dominion over Animals: The Taming of 'Brother Ass' 41 4. Reading the Book of Nature: St Francis, the Bible, and the Natural World 49 Part 2: Knights and the Brute Creation: Nobility and Sanctity in Four Middle English Romances 5. Romance and Hagiography: The Vision of St Eustace and Sir Isumbras 68 6. Sir Gowther 90 7. Octavian 105 8. Sir Orfeo 125 Part 3: Nature and Supernature: The Middle English Romances of Alexander the Great 9. Alexander: Romance and History 143 10. Alexander's Miraculous Conception and Birth 158 11. The Wonders of the East 172 Conclusion: Representing Nature in Medieval Literature 189 Bibliography 194 Index

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