Sin and Filth in Medieval Culture (Routledge Studies in Medieval Literature and Culture)

This important new contribution to the history of the body analyzes the role of filth as the material counterpart of sin in medieval thought. Using a wide range of texts, including theology, historical documents, and literature from Augustine to Chaucer, the book shows how filth was regarded as fundamental to an understanding of human history. This theological significance explains the prominence of filth and dung in all genres of medieval writing: there is more dung in theology than there is in Chaucer. The author also demonstrates the ways in which the religious understanding of filth and sin influenced the secular world, from town planning to the execution of traitors. As part of this investigation the book looks at the symbolic order of the body and the ways in which the different aspects of the body were assigned moral meanings. The book also lays out the realities of medieval sanitation, providing the first comprehensive view of real-life attempts to cope with filth. This book will be essential reading for those interested in medieval religious thought, literature, amd social history. Filled with a wealth of entertaining examples, it will also appeal to those who simply want to glimpse the medieval world as it really was.

Sin and Filth in Medieval Culture: The Devil in the Latrine (Routledge Studies in Medieval Literature and Culture)

Literature & Fiction

Bayless, Martha

History & Criticism

Routledge

This important new contribution to the history of the body analyzes the role of filth as the material counterpart of sin in medieval thought. Using a wide range of texts, including theology, historical documents, and literature from Augustine to Chaucer, the book shows how filth was regarded as fundamental to an understanding of human history. This theological significance explains the prominence of filth and dung in all genres of medieval writing: there is more dung in theology than there is in Chaucer. The author also demonstrates the ways in which the religious understanding of filth and sin influenced the secular world, from town planning to the execution of traitors. As part of this investigation the book looks at the symbolic order of the body and the ways in which the different aspects of the body were assigned moral meanings. The book also lays out the realities of medieval sanitation, providing the first comprehensive view of real-life attempts to cope with filth. This book will be essential reading for those interested in medieval religious thought, literature, amd social history. Filled with a wealth of entertaining examples, it will also appeal to those who simply want to glimpse the medieval world as it really was.

Parody in the Middle Ages: The Latin Tradition surveys and analyzes Latin parodies of texts and documents--Biblical parody, drinker's masses, bawdy litanies, lives of saints such as Nemo (Nobody) and Invicem (One-Another), and nonsense texts--in Western Europe from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance. This book also sketches in the background to the canonical works of medieval literature: Chaucer's fabliaux, French comic tales such as the Roman de Renart, and medieval satire in general. Bayless' study shows with great clarity that parody was a significant and vibrant literary form in the Middle Ages. In addition, her research sheds new light on clerical culture. The clerics who composed these parodies were far from meddling guardians of somber piety; rather, they appeared to see no contradiction between merriment and devotion. The wide dissemination and long life of these drolleries--some circulated for a thousand years--indicate a taste for clerical amusement that challenges conventional views of medieval solemnity. Parody in the Middle Ages surveys in detail five of the most common traditions of parody. It provides a complete list of all known medieval Latin parodies, and also provides twenty complete texts in an appendix in the original Latin, with English translations. These texts have been collated from over a hundred manuscripts, many previously unknown. The study brings to light both a form and many texts that have remained obscure and inaccessible until now. Parody in the Middle Ages appeals to the modern audience not only for its cultural value but also for the same reason the parodies appealed to the medieval audience: they are simply very funny. This welcome new volume will be of particular interest to students of medieval satire and literary culture, to medieval Latinists, and to those who want to explore the breadth of medieval culture. Martha Bayless is Assistant Professor of English, University of Oregon.

Parody in the Middle Ages: The Latin Tradition (Recentiores: Later Latin Texts And Contexts)

History

Americas

University of Michigan Press

East Lynne by Mrs. Henry Wood, Fiction, Literary

East Lynne was first written as a serial, and appeared in the New Monthly Magazine from January 1860 through September 1861. Its combination of suspense, doomed love, scandal and tragic remorse made it immensely successful, and it has remained the most famous and widely read of Mrs. Henry Wood's novels. Although no more melodramatic than others of her books, at the center of East Lynne is a development that strains credulity more severely than her other works; but the situation that transpires when Isabel Vane returns to East Lynne was one that readers found unforgettable. . . .

East Lynne

Wood, Henry

Literary

Wildside Pr

THE SHADOW OF ASHLYDYAT is, unusually for Mrs. Henry Wood, touched with a tinge of Gothic, in the form of the curse on the house of Godolphin and the ominous shadow that sometimes appears on the Dark Plain. In another sense, however, such fare is typical of Wood's belief in destiny: one slip, one instance of trifling with the rules of fate or morality, will bring doom upon the miscreant's head. Mr. George Godolphin gets wet and sits in his shirtsleeves, and brings on infirmity that has him on crutches for months. He ought to have known, then, that more serious lapses in judgment would bring on his ruin. The reader does know, and part of the fascination of the book is the satisfying horror of watching it all happen. Anything to do with the body, of course, is entirely taboo, which makes it all the more remarkable that scandals of the body are at the center of the book. Even Maria's pregnancies, as far from scandal as the book comes, are couched in such veiled terms that a modern reader has to be alert to catch them. When, for instance, Mrs. Verrall notes that Maria has lost the roses in her cheeks, Maria's incomplete reply gives away the secret.

The Shadow of Ashlydyat

Entertainment, Pleasure, and Meaning in Early England (Elements in England in the Early Medieval World)

Europe

Cambridge University Press

Is your feline friend tired of chasing the same old ball of string or eating the same fishy kitty snacks? Looking for new ways to spoil your furry ball of joy? No need to fret-with KITTY KAPERS around, you'¬?ll have your kitty rolling in catnip, purring to classic songs, and starring in her own soap opera. Want insight into your cat'¬?s distinguished behavior? Take the Kitty Reincarnation Quiz and find out if she used to be Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth, Alexander the Great, or William Shakespeare. Illustrated with charming full-color illustrations, this delightful book will give you tips to get your kitty purring on command and dutifully raking her Zen litterbox garden. Whether your kitty is a tabby or a Siamese, you'¬?ll find plenty of ideas for happy cat lives (all nine of them) in KITTY KAPERS.‚Ä¢ Includes recipes for delicious cat snacks such as Fishy Scramble and Mackerel Snackerels.‚Ä¢ Produced by the same team that brought you The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook.

Kitty Kapers: Dozens and Dozens of Indoor and Outdoor Activities for You and Your Feline Friend - Tricks and Games, Arts and Crafts, Stories and Songs and Much More!

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Pets & Animal Care

Ten Speed Press+

Old Mr. Verner had been a modest country gentleman, until one morning when he awoke to the news that valuable mines had been discovered on his land. The mines brought him in gold, and in his later years he purchased this estate, pulled down the house upon it, and built this solid mansion, calling it "Verner's Pride."As idyllic as the mansion and estate seem, however, trouble seems to stalk those who dwell there. Young Rachel Frost, full of life and beauty, is found drowned in the pond -- and Mrs. Roy is terrified by a ghostly vision. Then the young heir to Verner's Pride finds his life suddenly complicated in a way that runs contrary to his heart -- and which may leave him entangled for life!

Verner's Pride

Wood, Henry, Mrs.

Aegypan

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