{"product_id":"performing-the-middle-ages-from-andrew-james-johnston-9782503527550","title":"Performing the Middle Ages from Beowulf to Othello","description":"\u003ci\u003ePerforming the Middle Ages from 'Beowulf' to 'Othello'\u003c\/i\u003e traces the dialogic nature of the relationship between the Middle Ages and modernity. Arguing that modern beliefs in the alterity of the Middle Ages stem from the Middle Ages' own processes of self-representation, Johnston explores varieties of nostalgia through a wide selection of texts. This volume spans an extensive chronological period with a view to demonstrating how our notions of the medieval have been crucially informed by the past itself. The study is focused on works which stage that popular literary archetype - the nostalgic figure of the aristocratic warrior - and argues that it is this image that provides a structural model for so many modern perspectives on the Middle Ages. And yet, in the Middle Ages this model was being deconstructed as it was also being generated. By moving from the self-consciously archaic heroism of Beowulf to the scathing comment on chivalric narrative presented in Chaucer's 'Knight's Tale', Johnston's analysis offers an intriguing insight into the way medieval texts engage in a continual aesthetic and ideological critique of their own cultural moment. Using Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Alliterative Morte Arthure as examples of an incisive critique of the cult of subjectivity and of a highly self-conscious desire for tradition, Johnston extends his analysis to the early seventeenth century, and explores the ways in which Shakespeare's Othello brilliantly deconstructs the very concept of 'Renaissance Man'. With its interest in issues of subjectivity, textual performance, and the ideological self-awareness of medieval culture, \u003ci\u003ePerforming the Middle Ages\u003c\/i\u003e provides a scholarly and compelling investigation into the Middle Ages' ability both to understand itself and to shape (post)modern notions of the medieval.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Andrew James Johnston\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 2503527558\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9782503527550\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Brepols Publishers\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/2009\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.50h x 6.40w x 1.10d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReference and Research Bk News\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2009 pg. 274","brand":"Andrew James Johnston","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48066298839295,"sku":"9782503527550","price":57.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_7b77885b-69f9-4121-81fd-9847b094babf.jpg?v=1768678098","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/performing-the-middle-ages-from-andrew-james-johnston-9782503527550","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}