Medieval Literature: The Basics

Medieval Literature: The Basics is an engaging introduction to this fascinating body of literature. The volume breaks down the variety of genres used in the corpus of medieval literature and makes these texts accessible to readers. It engages with the familiarities present in the narratives and connects these ideas with a contemporary, twenty-first century audience. The volume also addresses contemporary medievalism to show the presence of medieval literature in contemporary culture, such as film, television, games, and novels. From Dante and Chaucer to Christine de Pisan, this book deals with questions such as:

• What is medieval literature?
• What are some of the key topics and genres of medieval literature?
• How did it evolve as technology, such as the printing press, developed?
• How has it remained relevant in the twenty-first century?

Medieval Literature: The Basics is an ideal introduction for students coming to the subject for the first time, while also acting as a springboard from which deeper interaction with medieval literature can be developed.

Angela Jane Weisl is Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies at Seton Hall University, USA. She is the author of Conquering the Reign of Femeny: Gender and Genre in Chaucer’s Romance (1995), The Persistence of Medievalism: Narrative Adventures in Contemporary Culture (2003), and with Tison Pugh, Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present (2012), as well as many articles on a wide variety of medieval subjects.

Anthony Joseph Cunder graduated from Seton Hall University, USA with a Master's in English. He has published work (both fiction and scholarly articles) in a variety of online and print journals in addition to publishing a memoir about growing up and living with type 1 diabetes.