The Shock of Medievalism

Nonfiction, History, Medieval
Cover of the book The Shock of Medievalism by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott ISBN: 9780822379027
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: August 31, 1998
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
ISBN: 9780822379027
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: August 31, 1998
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

In The Shock of Medievalism Kathleen Biddick explores the nineteenth-century foundations of medieval studies as an academic discipline as well as certain unexamined contemporary consequences of these origins. By pairing debates over current academic trends and issues with innovative readings of medieval texts, Biddick exposes the presuppositions of the field of medieval studies and significantly shifts the objects of its historical inquiry.
Biddick describes how the discipline of medieval studies was defined by a process of isolation and exclusion—a process that not only ignored significant political and cultural issues of the nineteenth century but also removed the period from the forces of history itself. Wanting to separate themselves from popular studies of medieval culture, and valuing their own studies as scientific, nineteenth-century academics created an exclusive discipline whose structure is consistently practiced today, despite the denials of most contemporary medieval scholars. Biddick supports her argument by discussing the unavowed melancholy that medieval Christians felt for Jews and by revealing the unintentional irony of nineteenth-century medievalists’ fabrication of sentimental objects of longing (such as the “gothic peasant”). The subsequent historical distortions of this century-old sentimentality, the relevance of worker dislocation during the industrial revolution, and other topics lead to a conclusion in which Biddick considers the impact of an array of factors on current medieval studies.
Simultaneously displacing disciplinary stereotypes and altering an angle of historical inquiry, The Shock of Medievalism challenges accepted thinking even as it produces a new direction for medieval studies. This book will provoke scholars in this field and appeal to readers who are interested in how historicizing processes can affect the development of academic disciplines.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In The Shock of Medievalism Kathleen Biddick explores the nineteenth-century foundations of medieval studies as an academic discipline as well as certain unexamined contemporary consequences of these origins. By pairing debates over current academic trends and issues with innovative readings of medieval texts, Biddick exposes the presuppositions of the field of medieval studies and significantly shifts the objects of its historical inquiry.
Biddick describes how the discipline of medieval studies was defined by a process of isolation and exclusion—a process that not only ignored significant political and cultural issues of the nineteenth century but also removed the period from the forces of history itself. Wanting to separate themselves from popular studies of medieval culture, and valuing their own studies as scientific, nineteenth-century academics created an exclusive discipline whose structure is consistently practiced today, despite the denials of most contemporary medieval scholars. Biddick supports her argument by discussing the unavowed melancholy that medieval Christians felt for Jews and by revealing the unintentional irony of nineteenth-century medievalists’ fabrication of sentimental objects of longing (such as the “gothic peasant”). The subsequent historical distortions of this century-old sentimentality, the relevance of worker dislocation during the industrial revolution, and other topics lead to a conclusion in which Biddick considers the impact of an array of factors on current medieval studies.
Simultaneously displacing disciplinary stereotypes and altering an angle of historical inquiry, The Shock of Medievalism challenges accepted thinking even as it produces a new direction for medieval studies. This book will provoke scholars in this field and appeal to readers who are interested in how historicizing processes can affect the development of academic disciplines.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Out Takes by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book The Memory of Trade by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Economies of Abandonment by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Reality Gendervision by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Widows by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Seven Faces by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book This Land Is Ours Now by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Media Theory in Japan by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Borrowed Time by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Battling for Hearts and Minds by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Body and Nation by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book The Discovery and Conquest of Peru by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Passing and the Fictions of Identity by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Wandering Peoples by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
Cover of the book Indigenous Development in the Andes by Kathleen Biddick, Joan Wallach Scott
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy