Fifteen essays trace North America's enthusiastic engagement with the middle ages from the Revolution to Disney. There are eight studies of the American reception of Arthur: in art (Abbey, Rosenthal), literature (Canadian writers, John Ciardi), scholarship (R.S. Loomis), politics (JFK), and popular culture (Arthurian youth groups, Disneyland, the Excalibur Casino). Other topics include Tom Paine, Elbertus Hubbard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, C.B. DeMille, popular treatments of Villon, the roots of the New Mexican cuento, and the rhetoric of the Gulf War. Contributors: ROGER WOOD, KYMBERLEY N....

The impact of cultural studies on contemporary medieval studies is investigated in this latest volume of Studies in Medievalism, which also offers an account of the developing interest of contemporary cultural theorists in the medieval period. Rather than dismissing the connection between medieval studies and cultural criticism as an expression of academic self-interest, the essays identify specific questions which engage both, such as race, history, women, religion, and literature. Topics include the use of Augustine by postcolonial theorists; the influence of studies in medieval mysticism...

How have the middle ages been constructed in modern European culture? How have these constructions both reflected and refashioned national and political ideology? What has characterised the interplay between literary and artistic medievalism and the rise of formal medieval studies in the academy? This international collection addresses medievalism in Germany, France, Scandinavia, and postcolonial South America. Contributors: RICHARD J. UTZ, ALBRECHT CLASSEN, OTFRID EHRISMANN, NILS HOLGER PETERSEN, ROBERT E. BJORK, MARTHA L. MACFARLANE, ADAM KNOBLER, WILLIAM CHESTER JORDAN, SUZY BEEMER,...