The Future of the Middle Ages: Medieval Literature in the 1990s

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A unique witness to a debate central to medieval studies caught in all the fire of its initial explosion but tempered by the invitation to seek what the future may hold. . . . The issues are . . . embedded in a context that orients them in new directions.--Margaret Switten, Mount Holyoke College   In these spirited essays, contributors across a broad spectrum reassess the study of the Middle Ages in the context of today's rapidly changing world.  They address concerns ranging from the impact of the end of the cold war on medieval studies to the relationship between philology and twentieth-century poetry, to new views of the long-term history of sexuality.  At the crux of the discussion lies the problem of how editors should treat the medieval text, the subject of renewed debate between scholars who believe that the editor and the printed book must enter into the reader's perception of the text and those who advocate a more direct analysis of the medieval manuscript source. The primary focus is on the study of the Middle Ages in France, but areas of concern extend to Spain, Italy, and Germany.    Because the book includes disagreement and competing views of the state of medieval studies today, it allows the reader to gauge the breadth and depth of the debate and to anticipate directions of future study. Contents Introduction PHILOLOGY IN HISTORY Scholars at a Perilous Ford, by William D. Paden A Philological Invention of Modernism: Men?ndez Pidal, Garc?a Lorca, and the Harlem Renaissance, by Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht TRADITION AND INNOVATION Is There a New Textual Philology in Old French? Perennial Problems, Provisional Solutions, by Peter F. Dembowski The Future of Old French Studies in America: The "Old" Philology and the Crisis of the "New," by Rupert T. Pickens Philology and Its Discontents, by Stephen G. Nichols NEW DIRECTIONS Beyond the Borders of Nation and Discipline, by Joan M. Ferrante Old French Literature and the New Medievalism, by R. Howard BlochWilliam D. Paden is professor of French and chair, Department of French and Italian, Northwestern University. He is coeditor of The Poems of the Troubadour Bertran de Born and editor of The Voice of the Trobairitz: Perspectives on the Women Troubadours and of the two-volume edition of The Medieval Pastourelle, which was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Book 1988-89.