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Reading Westeros: George R. R. Martin's Multi-Layered Medievalisms
- from II - Interpretations
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- By Carol Jamison, Professor of Medieval Literature and Linguistics at Armstrong State University
- Edited by Karl Fugelso
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- Book:
- Studies in Medievalism XXVI
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 15 September 2017
- Print publication:
- 21 April 2017, pp 131-142
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- Chapter
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Summary
Hans Robert Jauss defines modernity as “the self-understanding of our era from the past.” For scholars of medievalism, modernity typically refers to “the contemporary perspective from which a medievalist writer ponders, and attempts to create, a fictional Middle Ages.” Most assume that medievalism is “a modern invention.” However, in his preface to the 1996 edition of Studies in Medievalism, Leslie Workman defines it as “the continuing process of creating the Middle Ages.” Even some medieval writers, including Chrétien de Troyes, the Pearl poet, and Sir Thomas Malory, created a fictional Middle Ages as a method of self-understanding the contemporary concerns of their era. In the Jaussian sense, these writers of Arthurian romance might themselves be considered to write from “modern” perspectives, and their literary creations, as Nicholas Haydock points out, could be considered medievalism (or medievalistics, in Haydock's terminology). In other words, medievalism is not necessarily a post-medieval construct. Rather, it is a process of engaging with a fictionalized medieval past, and this process is possible not only within recent medievalist texts, but also within texts from the Middle Ages. In A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin embraces the narrative strategies of Arthurian romance writers, particularly Chrétien, the Pearl poet, and Malory, complicating our notions that medievalist narrative is dramatically different from medieval narrative. In his creation of a complex, multi-layered world, Martin vividly illustrates how both modern and medieval populations might create a medieval past for self-understanding.
According to Tom Shippey, “no literary work of medievalism can avoid some interaction with modernity.” Medievalist texts, either intentionally or not, reflect the contemporary concerns of their authors, but so do some medieval texts. The romance writers noted above intentionally drew upon pre-existing legends to create a fictionalized past that served to illustrate their contemporary concerns.
10 - John Gower’s Shaping of ‘The Tale of Constance’ as an Exemplum contra Envy
- Edited by Richard G. Newhauser, Susan Ridyard
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- Book:
- Sin in Medieval and Early Modern Culture
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 28 February 2023
- Print publication:
- 18 October 2012, pp 239-260
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Summary
John Gower’s version of the popular fourteenth-century Constance narrative appears in the Confessio Amantis, a framed narrative organized around a mock confession in which Venus’s priest, Genius, presents narratives that comment on the seven deadly sins. Shaped as an exemplum in bono that presents Charity as remedy to Envy, ‘The Tale of Constance’ serves as effective commentary not only on Genius’s discussion of Envy, but on other aspects of the sin and its remedy presented throughout Book Two. Using both Chaucer’s and Trivet’s versions of the same narrative as points of comparison, this essay demonstrates how Gower infuses his version with pastoral rhetoric in order to transform the figure of Constance into a representative of Charity who initiates religious conversions and forms familial bonds despite the actions of her envious enemies. Through these narrative strategies, Gower purposefully and artfully reshapes his version of the Constance narrative.
Three artists will likely approach the same subject with different artistic purposes in mind. Just so, John Gower, Nicholas Trivet and Geoffrey Chaucer take different approaches to their versions of the popular fourteenth-century narrative of the wrongly accused queen Constance. Whereas Trivet’s version of the story is cast as history and Chaucer’s as a secular saint’s life, Gower’s version transforms the narrative into an exemplum that illustrates the virtue of Charity. A comparison of the three versions will reveal how Gower purposefully infuses his narrative with pastoral rhetoric. In doing so, he transforms the figure of Constance into a representative of charity who initiates religious conversions and forms familial bonds despite the actions of her envious enemies.
Trivet’s ‘Of the Noble Lady Constance’, a richly detailed history, appears in Les cronicles, dedicated to the English Princess Mary of Woodstock. Presumably the source for both Chaucer and Gower, Trivet’s Constance narrative is embedded deeply in Les cronicles and begins and ends with accounts of the establishment of Moriz, Constance’s son, as Roman emperor. Laura Bare-field describes Trivet’s use of female characters such as Constance as providing ‘origins for dynasties and intercessors in the succession process’. Trivet’s emphasis on Constance’s relationship to Moriz indicates that the purpose of his Constance narrative is historical and political: to establish a worthy bloodline for Moriz as future emperor.
The New Seven Deadly Sins
- from II - Interpretations
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- By Carol Jamison, Armstrong Atlantic State University
- Edited by Karl Fugelso
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- Book:
- Studies in Medievalism XVIII
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 September 2012
- Print publication:
- 19 November 2009, pp 265-288
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Summary
The Seven Deadly Sins website, a site devoted to all modern aspects of the Seven Deadly Sins, features this telling statement about the current status of the Seven Deadly Sins in modern culture:
We at the Seven Deadly Sins Homepage pride ourselves on our commitment to keeping alive the vital historical tradition of the Seven Deadly Sins. But sometimes, like the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, you wonder if the people who framed the original concepts would have felt differently if they could have peered into the future and seen all the crazed goings-on in our age. In a time as rich with sin and evil as ours, it seems that the Seven Deadly Sins might need a little bit of updating.
The very existence of The Seven Deadly Sins website is itself evidence that the concept of the Sins has, in fact, been updated in some surprising and curious ways. This essay will explore how the Seven Deadly Sins have been both adopted and adapted by today's secular culture and will also reveal some commonalities between medieval and modern portrayals of the Sins.
The rich tradition of the Seven Deadly Sins began in the Middle Ages. As laid down by Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century, the Seven Deadly Sins thoroughly infiltrated medieval society. In 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council encouraged the education of clergy in counseling penitents during confessions. The Council advised priests to instruct penitents about the Seven Deadly Sins in order that the penitents might better understand the nature of their transgressions. Subsequently, the Seven Deadly Sins began to appear not only in numerous pastoral treatises meant to educate the clergy and in sermons themselves, but also in secular literature.