Medieval Popular Culture (Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture, Series Number 14) - Softcover

Gurevich, Aron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521386586 ISBN 13: 9780521386586

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1990

Synopsis

This book attempts to reconstruct the beliefs and perceptions of the "silent majority" of medieval men and women from the writings of clerical authors, aimed at a wide audience. By scrutinizing the lives of saints, miracle stories, descriptions of fantastic travels, penitential literature, catechisms and similar genres, from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries, the author identifies elements of popular culture that found their way into Latin literature through mutual interaction between author and audience. The author thus offers a fresh and original insight into the world of the common man, his everyday habits, beliefs and behavior.

About this title

Language Notes:

Text: English, Russian (translation)

Review:

"Here Western readers are confronted with one of the great minds of medieval cultural history, grappling with fundamental issues of history in a provocative, timely, and demanding manner. Exciting, exasperating, and enlightening, it is a volume no medievalist can ignore." Patrick G. Geary, The Historian

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0521386586
• ISBN 13: 9780521386586
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 295