Title Seasons in the literatures of the Medieval North / Paul S. Langeslag

Published Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK : D.S. Brewer, 2015

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Description 1 online resource (viii, 250 pages) Contents Frontcover; Contents; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations and Citation Practice; Introduction; A Monster of Our Making; Measuring Time; The Associative Year; Climate History; The Economic Year; Domesticating Time; 1. Myth and Ritual; Accounting for the Seasons; Performing the Seasons; Conclusions; 2. Winter Mindscapes; Introduction; Mind, Space, and Season; Anglo-Saxon Elegy; Cold Water; Hostile Categories in Old Norse Literature; Conclusions; 3. Winter Institutions ; Hauntings; The Grendel Season; Seasonal Progression in Beowulf; The Bonds of Winter; Winter Conflict; Prognostication and Prophecy Conclusions4. Summer Adventure; Introduction; Visions and Debates; The Forest of Romance; Conclusions; Conclusions; Bibliography; Index Summary To the cultures of medieval northwestern Europe, the annual changing of the seasons was a material and economic reality that strongly informed the labour, travel and ritual calendars. However, while there has been much research into the interplay between society and its physical surroundings as reflected in medieval literature, the seasonal aspect of this dynamic has hitherto been neglected. This book analyses the narrative and psychological functions of seasonal settings in the literatures of medieval England and Iceland from the eighth to the fourteenth century, including such important texts as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Dealing with both the material realities and the figurative functions of the seasonal cycle, it interprets seasonal spaces in myth and literature as conventionalised environments, where society deals with outside threats and powers which manifest themselves in marginal landscapes.0 Notes Print version record Subject Seasons in literature. English literature -- Old English, ca. 450-1100 -- History and criticism English literature -- Middle English, 1100-1500 -- History and criticism Old Norse literature -- History and criticism FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY -- German. English literature -- Middle English English literature -- Old English Old Norse literature Seasons in literature Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book ISBN 9781782045847 1782045848

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