York Notes Companions: Medieval Literature

Dr Carole Maddern has been a lecturer at Goldsmiths College, University of London, since 1994. She is currently convenor of Old English and Deputy Chair of the External Degree English Programme. She has extensive experience at teaching in many University of London colleges. She lectures on both Old English and Later Medieval literature and has written several guides for students for the University of London. She has also published with the London Medieval Society, which she helped to run for seven years. She has delivered many conference papers at national and international gatherings. Her main research interests are Medieval romance, women in Medieval literature, Medieval drama, and gender studies. She has a monograph entitled ‘The Figure of the Travelling Woman in Medieval English Romance’ which is being prepared for publication.

"Maddern's textbook offers a clear overview of the major literary concerns of the medieval period."- Recommended by the Times Higher Education Textbook Guide

• Part One – Introduction  Part Two – A Cultural Overview    Part Three - Texts, Writers and Contexts  Fantasy and Fairy: the Breton Lay         Extended Commentary: Sir Orfeo  Short and (Bitter) Sweet: Medieval LyricsExtended Commentary: When the nyhtegale singes, the wodes waxen grene  The Many Faces of Arthurian Romance            Extended Commentary: Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Wife of Bath’s Tale’  Dream and Vision: A Space OdysseyExtended Commentary: William Langland, Piers Plowman, Passus 18  Acting Up: Medieval Drama      Extended Commentary: The York ‘Play of the Crucifixion’  Chapter Eight: Mystical Love and Devotion       Extended Commentary: Nicholas Love, The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ  Part Four - Critical Theories and Debates  The Emergent Individual  Gender and Power                    Fun and Games  Society and Class                      Part Five – References and Resources  Timelines  Further reading  Index