The Subject Medieval/Modern: Text and Governance in the Middle Ages (Figurae: Reading Medieval Culture) - Softcover

Haidu, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080474744X ISBN 13: 9780804747448

Publisher: Stanford University Press, 2003

This ambitious book presents the most thorough historicist account to date of the development of subjectivity in the medieval period, as traced in medieval literature and historical documentation . Presenting the essence of the modern subject as resting in its subjection to specific historical forms of state power, the author examines literary texts from the Middle Ages that participate in the cultural invention of the subject. Overall, The Subject Medieval/Modern makes a remarkable case for the relevance of studying the Middle Ages to today's world. The book examines the constitution of subjects in literary texts as the result of the interplay of violence, ideology, and political structures as an integral part of the process of state-formation between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries. Each text is considered a singular event, a unique, self-reflexive structure modifying conventions in ideological exploration to offer performative models of subjectivity. Some texts line up with political evolution, others take a critical distance.

Review:

"This book revolutionizes contemporary understandings of medieval culture, demonstrates the applicability of medieval texts to modernity, and expands the ways in which literary theory may be applied to texts and contextually criticized."--PEER English: The Journal of New Critical Thinking

"Haidu's prose is as elegant as it is electrifying, his interpretations as intricate as they are intriguing, and no resume could hope to do them justice. A must read."--Speculum

Synopsis:

This work presents a thorough historicist account of the development of subjectivity in the medieval period, as traced in medieval literature and historical documentation. Presenting the essence of the modern subject as resting in its subjection to specific historical forms of state power, the author examines literary texts from the Middle Ages that participate in the cultural invention of the subject. Overall, "The Subject Medieval/Modern" makes a case for the relevance of studying the Middle Ages to today's world. The book examines the constitution of subjects in literary texts as the result of the interplay of violence, ideology, and political structures as an integral part of the process of state-formation between the 9th and the 15th centuries. Each text is considered a singular event, a unique, self-reflexive structure modifying conventions in ideological exploration to offer performative models of subjectivity. Some texts line up with political evolution, others take a critical distance.

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 080474744X
• ISBN 13: 9780804747448
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464