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For the first time, a group of distinguished authors come together
to provide an authoritative exploration of the cultural history of
tragedy in the Middle Ages. Reports of the so-called death of
medieval tragedy, they argue, have been greatly exaggerated; and,
for the Middle Ages, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Eight essays
offer a blueprint for future study as they take up the extensive
but much-neglected medieval engagement with tragic genres, modes,
and performances from the vantage points of gender, politics,
theology, history, social theory, anthropology, philosophy,
economics, and media studies. The result? A recuperated medieval
tragedy that is as much a branch of literature as it is of
theology, politics, law, or ethics and which, at long last, rejoins
the millennium-long conversation about one of the world’s most
enduring art forms. Each chapter takes a different theme as its
focus: forms and media; sites of performance and circulation;
communities of production and consumption; philosophy and social
theory; religion, ritual and myth; politics of city and nation;
society and family, and gender and sexuality.
Did you hear the one about the Mother Superior who was so busy
casting the first stone that she got caught in flagrante delicto
with her lover? What about the drunk with a Savior complex who was
fool enough to believe himself to be the Second Coming? And that's
nothing compared to what happens when comedy gets its grubby paws
on the confessional. Enter fifteenth- and sixteenth-century French
farce, the "bestseller" of a world that stands to tell us a lot
about the enduring influence of a Shakespeare or a Moliere. It's
the sacrilegious world of Immaculate Deception, the third volume in
a series of stage-friendly translations from the Middle French.
Brought to you through the wonders of Open Access, these twelve
engagingly funny satires target religious hypocrisy in that
in-your-face way that only true slapstick can muster. There is
literally nothing sacred. Why this repertoire and why now? The
current political climate has had dire consequences for the
pleasures of satire at a cultural moment when we have never needed
it more. It turns out that the proverbial Dark Ages had a lighter
side; and France's over 200 rollicking, frolicking, singing, and
dancing comedies-more extant than in any other vernacular-have
waited long enough for their moment in the spotlight. They are
seriously funny: funny enough to reclaim their place in cultural
history, and serious enough to participate in the larger
conversation about what it means to be a social influencer, then
and now. Rather than relegate medieval texts to the dustbin of
history, an unabashedly feminist translation can reframe and reject
the sexism of bygone days by doing what theater always invites us
to do: interpret, inflect, and adapt.
For the first time, a group of distinguished authors come together
to provide an authoritative exploration of the cultural history of
tragedy in the Middle Ages. Reports of the so-called death of
medieval tragedy, they argue, have been greatly exaggerated; and,
for the Middle Ages, the stakes couldn't be higher. Eight essays
offer a blueprint for future study as they take up the extensive
but much-neglected medieval engagement with tragic genres, modes,
and performances from the vantage points of gender, politics,
theology, history, social theory, anthropology, philosophy,
economics, and media studies. The result? A recuperated medieval
tragedy that is as much a branch of literature as it is of
theology, politics, law, or ethics and which, at long last, rejoins
the millennium-long conversation about one of the world's most
enduring art forms. Each chapter takes a different theme as its
focus: forms and media; sites of performance and circulation;
communities of production and consumption; philosophy and social
theory; religion, ritual and myth; politics of city and nation;
society and family, and gender and sexuality.
Did you hear the one about the Mother Superior who was so busy
casting the first stone that she got caught in flagrante delicto
with her lover? What about the drunk with a Savior complex who was
fool enough to believe himself to be the Second Coming? And that's
nothing compared to what happens when comedy gets its grubby paws
on the confessional. Enter fifteenth- and sixteenth-century French
farce, the "bestseller" of a world that stands to tell us a lot
about the enduring influence of a Shakespeare or a Moliere. It's
the sacrilegious world of Immaculate Deception, the third volume in
a series of stage-friendly translations from the Middle French.
Brought to you through the wonders of Open Access, these twelve
engagingly funny satires target religious hypocrisy in that
in-your-face way that only true slapstick can muster. There is
literally nothing sacred. Why this repertoire and why now? The
current political climate has had dire consequences for the
pleasures of satire at a cultural moment when we have never needed
it more. It turns out that the proverbial Dark Ages had a lighter
side; and France's over 200 rollicking, frolicking, singing, and
dancing comedies-more extant than in any other vernacular-have
waited long enough for their moment in the spotlight. They are
seriously funny: funny enough to reclaim their place in cultural
history, and serious enough to participate in the larger
conversation about what it means to be a social influencer, then
and now. Rather than relegate medieval texts to the dustbin of
history, an unabashedly feminist translation can reframe and reject
the sexism of bygone days by doing what theater always invites us
to do: interpret, inflect, and adapt.
Was there more to medieval and Renaissance comedy than Chaucer and
Shakespeare? Bien sur. For a real taste of saucy early European
humor, one must cross the Channel to France. There, in the
fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the sophisticated met the
scatological in popular performances presented by roving troupes in
public squares that skewered sex, politics, and religion. For
centuries, the scripts for these outrageous, anonymously written
shows were available only in French editions gathered from
scattered print and manuscript sources. Now prize-winning theater
historian Jody Enders brings twelve of the funniest of these farces
to contemporary English-speaking audiences in "The Farce of the
Fart" and Other Ribaldries. Enders's translation captures the full
richness of the colorful characters, irreverent humor, and
over-the-top plotlines, all in a refreshingly uncensored American
vernacular. Those who have never heard the one about the Cobbler,
the Monk, the Wife, and the Gatekeeper should prepare to be shocked
and entertained. "The Farce of the Fart" and Other Ribaldries is
populated by hilarious characters high and low. For medievalists,
theater practitioners, and classic comedy lovers alike, Enders
provides a wealth of information about the plays and their history.
Helpful details abound for each play about plot, character
development, sets, staging, costumes, and props. This
performance-friendly collection offers in-depth guidance to actors,
directors, dramaturges, teachers, and their students. "The Farce of
the Fart" and Other Ribaldries puts fifteenth-century French farce
in its rightful place alongside Chaucer, Shakespeare, commedia
dell'arte, and Moliere-not to mention Monty Python. Vive la Farce!
Historically and broadly defined as the period between the fall of
the Roman Empire and the rise of the Renaissance, the Middle Ages
encompass a millennium of cultural conflicts and developments. A
large body of mystery, passion, miracle and morality plays
cohabited with song, dance, farces and other public spectacles,
frequently sharing ecclesiastical and secular inspiration. A
Cultural History of Theatre in the Middle Ages provides a
comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of the cultural
history of theatre between 500 and 1500, and imaginatively pieces
together the puzzle of medieval theatre by foregrounding the study
of performance. Each of the ten chapters of this richly illustrated
volume takes a different theme as its focus: institutional
frameworks; social functions; sexuality and gender; the environment
of theatre; circulation; interpretations; communities of
production; repertoire and genres; technologies of performance; and
knowledge transmission.
Did you hear the one about the newlywed who rushes off for legal
advice before the honeymoon is over? Or the husbands who arrange
for an enormous tub in which to cure their sugary wives with a
pinch of salt? How about a participatory processional toward
marriage so sacrilegious that it puts Chaucer's pilgrimage to
shame? And who could have imagined a medieval series of plays
devoted to spouse-swapping? Jody Enders has heard and seen all this
and more, and shares it in her second volume of
performance-friendly translations of medieval French farces.
Carefully culled from more than two hundred extant farces, and
crafted with a wit and contemporary sensibility that make them
playable half a millennium later, these dozen bawdy plays take on
the hilariously depressing and depressingly hilarious state of holy
wedlock. In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century comedy, love and
marriage do not exactly go together like a horse and carriage. What
with all the arranged matches of child brides to doddering geezers,
the frustration, fear, anxiety, jealousy, disappointment, and
despair are matched only by the eagerness with which everybody
sings, dances, and cavorts in the pursuit of deception, trickery,
and adultery. Easily recognizable stock characters come vividly to
life, struggling to negotiate the limits of power, class, and
gender, each embodying the distinctive blend of wit, social
critique, and breathless boisterousness that is farce. Whether the
antics play out on the fifteenth-century stage or the
twenty-first-century screen, Enders notes, comedy revels in shining
its brightest spotlight on the social and legal questions of what
makes a family. Her volume defines and redefines love and marriage
with a message that no passage of time can tear asunder: social
change finds its start where comedy itself begins-at home.
Special issue focusing on violence in fifteenth-century life, text,
and image: warfare and justice, violence in family and milieu
(court, town, village, and forest), hagiography, ethnicity and
xenophobia, gender relations and sexual violence, brutality on the
stage, and the relation of text and image in the depiction of
violence. Founded in 1977 as the publication organ for the
Fifteenth-Century Symposium, Fifteenth-Century Studies has appeared
annually since then. It publishes essays on all aspects of life in
the fifteenth century, including literature, drama, history,
philosophy, art, music, religion, science, and ritual and custom.
The editors strive to do justice to the most contested medieval
century, a period that has long been the stepchild of research. The
fifteenth century defies consensus on fundamental issues: some
scholars dispute, in fact, whether it belonged to the middle ages
at all, arguing that it was a period of transition, a passage to
modern times. At issue, therefore, is the very tenor of an age that
stood under the influence of Gutenberg, Columbus, the Devotio
Moderna,, and Humanism. Volume 27 is a special issue offering a
selection of outstanding papers on violence that will interest
students of medieval history and the early Renaissance, the
humanities, art history, sociology, anthropology, and even the
general reader. The articles highlight warfare and justice,
violence in family and milieu (court, town, village,and forest),
hagiography, ethnicity and xenophobia, gender relations and sexual
violence, brutality on the stage, and the relation of text and
image in the depiction of violence. Edelgard E. DuBruck is
professor in theModern Languages Department at Marygrove College in
Detroit; Yael Even is associate professor of Art and Art History at
the University of Missouri, St. Louis.
Part of every legend is true. Or so argues Jody Enders in this
fascinating look at early French drama and the way it compels us to
consider where the stage ends and where real life begins. This
ambitious and bracing study explores fourteen tales of the theater
that are at turns dark and dangerous, sexy and scandalous, humorous
and frightening--stories that are nurtured by the confusion between
truth and fiction, and imitation and enactment, until it becomes
impossible to tell whether life is imitating art, or art is
imitating life.
Was a convicted criminal executed on stage during a beheading
scene? Was an unfortunate actor driven insane while playing a
madman? Did a theatrical enactment of a crucifixion result in a
real one? Did an androgynous young man seduce a priest when
portraying a female saint? Enders answers these and other questions
while presenting a treasure trove of tales that have long seemed
true but are actually medieval urban legends. On topics ranging
through politics, religion, marriage, class, and law, these tales,
Enders argues, do the cultural work of all urban legends: they
disclose the hopes, fears, and anxieties of their tellers. Each one
represents a medieval meditation created or dramatized by the
theater with its power to blur the line between fiction and
reality, engaging anyone who watches, performs, or is represented
by it. Each one also raises pressing questions about the medieval
and modern world on the eve of the Reformation, when Europe had
never engaged more anxiously and fervently in the great debate
about what was real, what was pretend, and what was pretense.
Written with elegance and flair, and meticulously researched,
"Death by Drama andOther Medieval Urban Legends" will interest
scholars of medieval and Renaissance literature, history, theater,
performance studies, and anyone curious about urban legends.
Part of every legend is true. Or so argues Jody Enders in this
fascinating look at early French drama and the way it compels us to
consider where the stage ends and where real life begins. This
ambitious and bracing study explores fourteen tales of the theater
that are at turns dark and dangerous, sexy and scandalous, humorous
and frightening--stories that are nurtured by the confusion between
truth and fiction, and imitation and enactment, until it becomes
impossible to tell whether life is imitating art, or art is
imitating life.
Was a convicted criminal executed on stage during a beheading
scene? Was an unfortunate actor driven insane while playing a
madman? Did a theatrical enactment of a crucifixion result in a
real one? Did an androgynous young man seduce a priest when
portraying a female saint? Enders answers these and other questions
while presenting a treasure trove of tales that have long seemed
true but are actually medieval urban legends. On topics ranging
through politics, religion, marriage, class, and law, these tales,
Enders argues, do the cultural work of all urban legends: they
disclose the hopes, fears, and anxieties of their tellers. Each one
represents a medieval meditation created or dramatized by the
theater with its power to blur the line between fiction and
reality, engaging anyone who watches, performs, or is represented
by it. Each one also raises pressing questions about the medieval
and modern world on the eve of the Reformation, when Europe had
never engaged more anxiously and fervently in the great debate
about what was real, what was pretend, and what was pretense.
Written with elegance and flair, and meticulously researched,
"Death by Drama andOther Medieval Urban Legends" will interest
scholars of medieval and Renaissance literature, history, theater,
performance studies, and anyone curious about urban legends.
Why did medieval dramatists weave so many scenes of torture into
their plays? Exploring the cultural connections among rhetoric,
law, drama, literary creation, and violence, Jody Enders addresses
an issue that has long troubled students of the Middle Ages.
Theories of rhetoric and law of the time reveal, she points out,
that the ideology of torture was a widely accepted means for
exploiting such essential elements of the stage and stagecraft as
dramatic verisimilitude, pity, fear, and catharsis to fabricate
truth. Analyzing the consequences of torture for the history of
aesthetics in general and of drama in particular, Enders shows that
if the violence embedded in the history of rhetoric is
acknowledged, we are better able to understand not only the
enduring "theater of cruelty" identified by theorists from Isidore
of Seville to Antonin Artaud, but also the continuing modern
devotion to the spectacle of pain.
Why did medieval dramatists weave so many scenes of torture into
their plays? Exploring the cultural connections among rhetoric,
law, drama, literary creation, and violence, Jody Enders addresses
an issue that has long troubled students of the Middle Ages.
Theories of rhetoric and law of the time reveal, she points out,
that the ideology of torture was a widely accepted means for
exploiting such essential elements of the stage and stagecraft as
dramatic verisimilitude, pity, fear, and catharsis to fabricate
truth. Analyzing the consequences of torture for the history of
aesthetics in general and of drama in particular, Enders shows that
if the violence embedded in the history of rhetoric is
acknowledged, we are better able to understand not only the
enduring "theater of cruelty" identified by theorists from Isidore
of Seville to Antonin Artaud, but also the continuing modern
devotion to the spectacle of pain.
Historically and broadly defined as the period between the fall of
the Roman Empire and the rise of the Renaissance, the Middle Ages
encompass a millennium of cultural conflicts and developments. A
large body of mystery, passion, miracle and morality plays
cohabited with song, dance, farces and other public spectacles,
frequently sharing ecclesiastical and secular inspiration. A
Cultural History of Theatre in the Middle Ages provides a
comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of the cultural
history of theatre between 500 and 1500, and imaginatively pieces
together the puzzle of medieval theatre by foregrounding the study
of performance. Each of the ten chapters of this richly illustrated
volume takes a different theme as its focus: institutional
frameworks; social functions; sexuality and gender; the environment
of theatre; circulation; interpretations; communities of
production; repertoire and genres; technologies of performance; and
knowledge transmission.
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