An Introduction to Piers Plowman

ISBN-13: 9780813064574 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 392 str.

Michael A. Calabrese

Opis

"A comprehensive and witty guide to understanding Piers Plowman in all its versions, and a manifesto for the pure intellectual pleasure to be had from reading the text as it dynamically unfolds in each of the poet's reworkings."--Sarah Wood, author of Conscience and the Composition of Piers Plowman "Calabrese makes Piers Plowman accessible without sacrificing complexity, guiding readers expertly through the poem's much-debated development."--Nicole R. Rice, author of Lay Piety and Religious Discipline in Middle English Literature William Langland's allegorical poem Piers Plowman is becoming ever more popular in medieval English literature courses. But most current introductions focus primarily on the B text, leaving a gap in available resources for the poem's study. As Piers Plowman continues to gain academic attention in all its three versions (the A, B, and C texts), teachers and students need a new perspective and new approach to the poem as an evolving whole. This first comprehensive introduction to Langland's masterful work covers all three iterations and outlines the various changes that occurred between each. Useful for individuals reading any version of Piers Plowman, this engaging guide offers a much-needed navigational summary, a chronology of historic events relevant to the poem, biographical notes about Langland, and keys to characters and proper pronunciation. Calabrese's definitive and refreshingly lively volume allows readers to navigate this daunting poem and to contextualize it within the literary history of Western culture. Michael Calabrese, professor of English at California State University, Los Angeles, is the author of Chaucer's Ovidian Arts of Love. A volume in the series New Perspectives on Medieval Literature: Authors and Traditions, edited