Comedy and humor flourished in manifold forms in the Middle Ages. This volume, covering the period from 1000 to 1400 CE, examines the themes, practice, and effects of medieval comedy, from the caustic morality of principled satire to the exuberant improprieties of many wildly popular tales of sex and trickery. The analysis includes the most influential authors of the age, such as Chaucer, Boccaccio, Juan Ruiz, and Hrothswitha of Gandersheim, as well as lesser-known works and genres, such as songs of insult, nonsense-texts, satirical church paintings, topical jokes, and obscene pilgrim badges. The analysis touches on most of the literatures of medieval Europe, including a discussion of the formal attitudes toward humor in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. The volume demonstrates the many ways in which medieval humor could be playful, casual, sophisticated, important, subversive, and even dangerous.

Table des matières :

Introduction: Comedy in the Middle Ages: Answers and Questions – Martha Bayless

Form: Its Expressions and Manifestations – Olle Fermm

Theory: Comedy Humbled and Exalted – Johan Verberckmoes

Praxis: The Location and Performance of Comedy – Katherine A. Brown

Identity – John DuVal

The Body: Unstable, Gendered, Theorized – Susan Signe Morrison

Politics: Comic Power, Foolish Men, and Holy Women – Max Harris

Laughter: A Comedic Approach – Sebastian Coxon

Ethics: Ethical Dimensions of Medieval Comedy – Nicolino Applauso

Informations pratiques :

A Cultural History of Comedy in the Middle Ages, dir. Martha Bayless, New Tork, Bloomsbury, 2022 ; 1 vol., 232 p. (The Cultural Histories Series). ISBN : 9781350000728. Prix : GBP 75,00.

Source : Bloomsbury