International Medievalism and Popular Culture

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· Cambria Press
Ebook
294
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

 Today medievalism is increasingly intelligible as a cultural lingua franca, produced in trans- and international contexts with a view to reaching popular international audiences, some of mass scope. This book offers new perspectives on international relations and how global concerns are made available through contemporary medievalist texts. It questions how research in medievalism may help us rethink the terms of internationalism and globalism within popular cultures, ideologies, and political formations. It investigates how the diverse media of medievalism (print; film and television; arts and crafts; fashion; digital media; clubs and fandom) affect its cultural meaning and circulation, and its social function, and engage questions of desire, gender and identity construction. As a whole, International Medievalism and Popular Culture differs from those studies which have concentrated on imaginative appropriations of the middle ages for domestic cultural contexts. It investigates rather how contemporary cultures engage with medievalism to map and model ideas of the international, the trans-national, the cosmopolitan and the global. This book includes examples from Europe, Britain, North America, Australia and the Arab world. It discusses the formation and the impact of popular medievalism in the globalised worlds of Braveheart, Disney and Harry Potter, but it also explores how the contemporary medieval imaginary generates international cultural perspectives, for example in considering Middle Eastern reception of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, the Byzantinism of Julia Kristeva, and Hedley Bull's postnationalist 'new medievalism'. International Medievalism in Popular Culture is an important contribution to medieval studies, cultural studies, and historical studies. It will be of value to undergraduate, postgraduate and academic readers, as well as to all interested in popular culture or medievalism.

About the author

 Louise D’Arcens is an associate professor in the English Literatures Program at the University of Wollongong. She holds a PhD and a BA (Hons) from the University of Sydney. Dr. D’Arcens’ previous publications include Old Songs in the Timeless Land: Medievalism in Australian Literature 1840-1910 and Maistresse of My Wit: Medieval Women, Modern Scholars. She has published in numerous journals, including RepresentationsScreening the PastParergon, and Postmedieval. Dr. D’Arcens also holds a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council.

Andrew Lynch teaches in English and Cultural Studies at The University of Western Australia and is Director of the UWA Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. His publications include Malory’s Book of Arms, edited collections, and articles and chapters on medieval and medievalist literature in Britain, the USA and Australia. With Helen Dell and Louise D’Arcens he coedited postmedieval 2.2 (2011): 'The Medievalism of Nostalgia'.

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