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OverviewIn Fragments and Assemblages, Arthur Bahr expands the ways in which we interpret medieval manuscripts, examining the formal characteristics of both physical manuscripts and literary works. Specifically, Bahr argues that manuscript compilations from fourteenth-century London reward interpretation as both assemblages and fragments: as meaningfully constructed objects whose forms and textual contents shed light on the city’s literary, social, and political cultures, but also as artifacts whose physical fragmentation invites forms of literary criticism that were unintended by their medieval makers. Such compilations are not simply repositories of data to be used for the reconstruction of the distant past; their physical forms reward literary and aesthetic analysis in their own right. The compilations analyzed reflect the full vibrancy of fourteenth-century London’s literary cultures: the multilingual codices of Edwardian civil servant Andrew Horn and Ricardian poet John Gower, the famous Auchinleck manuscript of texts in Middle English, and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. By reading these compilations as both formal shapes and historical occurrences, Bahr uncovers neglected literary histories specific to the time and place of their production. The book offers a less empiricist way of interpreting the relationship between textual and physical form that will be of interest to a wide range of literary critics and manuscript scholars. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Arthur BahrPublisher: The University of Chicago Press Imprint: University of Chicago Press Dimensions: Width: 1.40cm , Height: 0.20cm , Length: 2.20cm Weight: 0.397kg ISBN: 9780226269405ISBN 10: 022626940 Pages: 296 Publication Date: 31 March 2015 Audience: College/higher education , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Manufactured on demand We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier. Table of ContentsReviewsBahr's attractively written, often witty book, informed by a wide range of scholarship, elegantly demonstrates one way of using material form in the service of critical analysis. (Times Literary Supplement) Arthur Bahr's scholarship is deeply learned and technically skillful, as he invests codicology with the larger promises of formalism. But have no fear: Bahr's prose sparkles with intellectual delicacy, energy, and pleasure. This is scholarship voiced in an especially agreeable and distinctive way. I enjoyed reading Fragments and Assemblages enormously. --James Simpson, Harvard University """Bahr's attractively written, often witty book, informed by a wide range of scholarship, elegantly demonstrates one way of using material form in the service of critical analysis."" (Times Literary Supplement)" Author InformationArthur Bahr is associate professor of literature at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |