Description
A story that follows a simple trajectory is seldom worth telling. But the unexpected overturning of narrative progress creates complexity and interest, directing the reader's attention to the most powerful elements of a story.
Exile, for example, upsets a protagonist's hopes for a happy earthly life, emphasizing spiritual perception instead. Waking life interrupts dreams, just as dreams may redirect how one lives.
Focusing on medieval literature, this study explores how narrative subversion works in such well known stories as Beowulf, Piers Plowman, Le Morte D'Arthur, The Canterbury Tales, Troylus and Criseyde, "Voluspa" and other Old Norse sagas, Grail quest romances, and many others.
About the Author
E.L. Risden, emeritus professor of English at St. Norbert College, lives in De Pere, Wisconsin, where he continues to write literary and movie scholarship, speculative fiction, and occasional poetry.
Reviews
"Narrative Subversion in Medieval Literature is readable and teachable... As a theory, Risden's notion of 'narrative subversion' is portable and not overly abstract, complicated, or technical, allowing it to be understood and applied... Coverage of so many varieties of medieval literature makes the book potentially useful... easily digestible"-Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching
Book Information
ISBN 9780786477784
Author E.L. Risden
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint McFarland & Co Inc
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc
Weight(grams) 277g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 10mm
