Overview
- Extends previous discussions surrounding memory in medieval studies through its discussion of confession
- Examines a range of notable medieval authors including Langland, Chaucer, Gower, and the Gawain-Poet
- Analyzes moments of recollection in major Middle English texts in order to reveal how memory permeates, complicates, and explicates medieval writing
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: The New Middle Ages (TNMA)
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book argues that the traditional relationship between the act of confessing and the act of remembering is manifested through the widespread juxtaposition of confession and memory in Middle English literary texts and, furthermore, that this concept permeates other manifestations of memory as written by authors in a variety of genres. This study, through the framework of confession, identifies moments of recollection within the texts of four major Middle English authors – Langland, Chaucer, Gower, and the Gawain-Poet – and demonstrates that these authors deliberately employed the devices of recollection and forgetfulness in order to indicate changes or the lack thereof, both in conduct and in mindset, in their narrative subjects.
Memory and Confession in Middle English Literature explores memory’s connection to confession along with the recurring textual awareness of confession’s ability to transform the soul; demonstrating that memory and recollectionis used in medieval literature to emphasize emotional and behavioral change.
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Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Kisha G. Tracy is Assistant Professor of English Studies, specializing in early British and world literatures, and Co-Coordinator of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Fitchburg State University. Her main research interests include medieval memory and confession, medieval disability, and higher education pedagogy.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Memory and Confession in Middle English Literature
Authors: Kisha G. Tracy
Series Title: The New Middle Ages
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55675-8
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-55674-1Published: 16 May 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-85723-7Published: 28 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-55675-8Published: 06 May 2017
Series ISSN: 2945-5936
Series E-ISSN: 2945-5944
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VII, 123
Topics: Medieval Literature, British and Irish Literature, Comparative Literature