Seasons in the Literatures of the Medieval North
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer, Limited
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 258
ISBN-13: 9781843844259
Subjects: English literature, history and criticism, middle english, 1100-1500; Icelandic and old norse literature, history and criticism
Description: 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.