New essays attempt to survey and map out the increasingly significant discipline of medievalism.

New essays attempt to survey and map out the increasingly significant discipline of medievalism.

Medievalism has been attracting considerable scholarly attention in recent years. But it is also suffering from something of an identity crisis. Where are its chronological and geographical boundaries? How does it relate to the Middle Ages? Does it comprise neomedievalism, pseudomedievalism, and other "medievalisms"?
Studies in Medievalism XVII directly addresses these and related questions via a series of specially-commissioned essays from some of the most well-known scholars in the field; they explore its origins, survey the growth of the subject, and attempt various definitions. The volume then presents seven articles that often test the boundaries of medievalism: they look at echoes of medieval bestiaries in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, the influence of theNiebelungenlied on Wagner's Ring cycle, representations of King Alfred in two works by Dickens, medieval tropes in John Bale's Reformist plays, authenticity in Sigrid Undset's novelKristin Lavransdatter, incidental medievalism in Handel's operaRodelinda, and editing in the audio version of Seamus Heaney'sBeowulf.

CONTRIBUTORS: KATHLEEN VERDUIN, CLARE A. SIMMONS, NILS HOLGER PETERSEN, TOM SHIPPEY, GWENDOLYN A. MORGAN, M. J. TOSWELL, ELIZABETH EMERY, KARL FUGELSO, EMILY WALKER HEADY, MARK B. SPENCER, GAIL ORGELFINGER, DOUGLAS RYAN VAN BENTHUYSEN, THEA CERVONE, WERNER WUNDERLICH, EDWARD R. HAYMES

Editorial Note
The Founding and the Founder: Medievalism and the Legacy of Leslie J. Workman - Kathleen Verduin
Medievalism: Its Linguistic History in Nineteenth-Century Britain - Clare A Simmons
Medievalism and Medieval Reception: A Terminological Question - Nils Holger Petersen
Medievalisms and Why They Matter - Tom Shippey
Medievalism, Authority, and the Academy - Gwendolyn Morgan
The Tropes of Medievalism - M J Toswell
Medievalism and the Middle Ages - Elizabeth Emery
Medievalism from Here
A Steam-Whistle Modernist?: Representations of King Alfred in Dickens'sA Child's History of England andThe Battle of Life - Emily Walker Heady
Writing Medieval Women [and Men]: Sigrid Undset'sKristin Lavransdatter - Mark B. Spencer
J.K. Rowling's Medieval Bestiary - Gail Orgelfinger
Seamus Heaney's AudioBeowulf: An Analysis of the Omissions - Douglas Ryan VanBenthuysen
The King's Phantom: Staging Majesty in Bale'sKynge Johan
Rodelinda Goes Opera: The Lombard Queen's Journey from Medieval Backstage to Händel's "dramma per musica" - W Wunderlich
The Ring of the Nibelung and theNibelungenlied: Wagner's Ambiguous Relationship to a Source - Edward Haymes
Notes on Contributors