Medieval Afterlives in Contemporary Culture

Gail Ashton is an academic, writer and poet with research and publishing interests in medieval and women's literature, poetry and contemporary literary theory. Recent books include Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (2007) and the co-edited Teaching Chaucer (2007).

This substantial collection comprises 29 essays on medieval culture in the present world … In the volume's five sections, contributors examine performative medievalisms, the Middle Ages as a media phenomenon, reimagining and reappropriating the medieval, cultural icons and artifacts, and networking and fan culture. There is something for everyone interested in medievalism, and the vast majority of the essays engage in new texts, spaces, and concepts. Things Arthurian are the focus of a number of essays, and Robin Hood is well represented. The most engaging essays are those that focus on the spread of the medieval to physical sites: Elizabeth Emery’s piece on medieval times in North America, Louise D’Arcens's contribution on Australian medievalisms, and Laurie Finke and Susan Aronstein’s interaction with Tintagel as a locus of tourism and national heritage. For this reader, the most significant contribution to this volume is Wendy Scase’s essay on medieval manuscripts and the benefits and problems of digitization. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Living MedievalGail AshtonI: True to Life: in the performance1.Spamalot: Lovingly Ripping Off / Ripping On the Establishment Jeff Massey and Brian Cogan2. Medievalisms in Contemporary OperaRobert Sturges3. Medieval religious plays in England: afterlives and new lives through performanceMargaret Rogerson4. Staging Chaucer: Mike Poulton and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales Sarah Peverley5. You Can’t Do This to Disney! Popular Medievalisms in the Classroom Meriem Pagès6. Medieval Times: Tournaments and Jousting in Twenty-first Century North AmericaElizabeth EmeryII: To Turn You On: the pleasures of texts- film, TV, gaming7. From Anglo-Saxon to Angelina: Adapting Beowulf for Film Stewart Brookes8. Contemporary Neomedieval Digital Gaming: An Overview of Genres Daniel T. Kline9. Survey of 21st ‘Medieval’ Film Lesley Coote 10. ‘Camelot must come before all else’: Fantasy and family in the BBC Merlin Philippa Semper 11. Electronic Tolkien: Characterization in Film and Video GamesCarol L. Robinson 12. Chaucer in a (Television) Box: The BBC Canterbury Tales (2003)Kathleen Coyne Kelly III: More Than This: reimagings and reappropriations13. Global ChaucersCandace Barrington and Jonathan Hsy 14. Silence in the Library?—Medievalist Poetry Shout-OutGail Ashton15. Coming of Age in the Middle Ages: The Quest for Identity in Medieval Novels for Young Adults Angela Jane Weisl16. Australian Medievalism: Time and Paradox Louise D’Arcens17. Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe as Contemporary Cult FiguresFiona Tolhurst 18. Conjuring the Ghosts of Camelot: Tintagel and the Medievalism of Heritage Tourism Laurie A. Finke and Susan Aronstein IV: Avalon: icons and artefacts19. Medievalism and Heroism in Arthurian Literature for Young People Ann F. Howey 20. New Age and Neopagan MedievalismsKarolyn Kinane21. 21st-Century Templar Cory James Rushton 22. Malory’s Afterlives in Contemporary CultureRaluca L. Radulescu23. ‘We Are Robin Hood’: The Outlaw Tradition in Contemporary Popular Culture Rob Gossedge24. Harry Potter and MedievalismRenée Ward V: The Space Between: new media and fandom25. Social Networking, Participatory Culture, and the Fandom World of Harry Potter Amanda K. Allen 26. ‘Nightcrawler’s Inferno’ and other Hellish Tales: Comics Adaptations of DanteJason Tondro 27. From Camelot to Kaamelott: The Arthurian Legend in British, American and French ComicsDaniel Nastali28. Afterlives of Medieval Manuscripts Wendy Scase29. Medieval Memes Maggie M. Williams and Lauren C. Razzore Notes on ContributorsSelect BibliographyIndex