Laughter and Awkwardness in Late Medieval England - Social Discomfort in the Literature of the Middle Ages

We live,'' according to Adam Kotsko, ''in an awkward age.'' While this condition may present some challenges, it may also help us to be more attuned to awkwardness in other ages. This book explores laughter and awkwardness in late-medieval English literature. In this nuanced and engaging study, David Watt focuses especially, but not exclusively, on the 15th century, which seems to intervene awkwardly in the literary trajectory between Chaucer and the Renaissance. The hypothesis of this book is that the social discomfort depicted and engendered by writers as diverse as Thomas Hoccleve, Margery Kempe, and Sir Thomas Malory is a feature rather than a flaw. In exploring this, reveals how and why these texts generate awkwardness and questions and in turn contemplates what it meant to live together in an awkward age.>

Product details

• Authors: David Watt, Watt David
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2018
• EAN: 9781788314305
• ISBN: 978-1-78831-430-5
• No. of pages: 208
• Series: New Directions in Medieval Studies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; History, European History, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, LITERARY CRITICISM / Medieval, Medieval History, Folklore, myths & legends, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, European history: medieval period, middle ages