1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910479871003321

Autore

Raschko Mary

Titolo

The politics of Middle English parables : Fiction, theology, and social practice / / Mary Raschko

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Manchester, England : , : Manchester University Press, , [2019]

©2019

ISBN

1-5261-3118-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (266 pages)

Collana

Manchester medieval literature and culture ; ; 23

Disciplina

261.7

Soggetti

Parables

English literature - Middle English

Parables in literature

Parables - History and criticism

English literature - Middle English, 1100-1500 - History and criticism

Literary criticism

Parables.

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Sommario/riassunto

The politics of Middle English parables examines the dynamic intersection of fiction, theology and social practice in late-medieval England. Parables occupy a prominent place in Middle English literature, appearing in dream visions and story collections as well as in lives of Christ and devotional treatises. While most scholarship approaches the translated stories as stable vehicles of Christian teaching, this book highlights the many variations and points of conflict across Middle English renditions of the same story. In parables related to labour, social inequality, charity and penance, the book locates a creative theological discourse through which writers attempted to re-construct Christian belief and practice. Analysis of these diverse retellings reveals not what a given parable meant in a



definitive sense but rather how Middle English parables inscribe the ideologies, power structures and cultural debates of late-medieval Christianity.