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Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Reviews
"Scott Lightsey's Manmade Marvels is a remarkable and unique work on a neglected aspect of late-medieval society....an intriguing discussion of the complex and contested status of mechanical wonders in late-medieval society." - The Medieval Review
"This is extremely original and imaginative research and there is nothing else like it in the field. Lightsey has brought together an almost obsessive interest in curiosities and similacra with a sweeping theoretical framework that combines the History of Science with Cultural Studies. I believe that Lightsey s book will not only be greeted with enthusiasm by his fellow medievalists, but will be regarded as a major contribution to what is now being called the secret life of things." - John M. Ganim, University of California, Riverside; Author of Medievalism and Orientalism
"Lightsey s study of the proliferation of mechanical marvels in the later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries offers a fascinating view of English court culture and its critics. Focusing on the court of Richard II, Lightsey shows the dynamic interplay of wonder, curiosity, and connoisseurship in contemporary literary responses to this important aspect of royal spectacle." - Katharine Park, Harvard University; Author of Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750
"This study of constructed marvels in late medieval literature and culture shows that an interest in mirabilia was central to developing medieval court cultures and to the individuals, including artisans, who supported such cultures. The study cuts through disciplinary boundaries and contextualizes mirabilia in a highly original way, providing a new view of the role of the technical arts in writings such as Piers Plowman and in the culture that surrounded such writings." - Pamela O. Long, Independent Historian; Author of Openness, Secrecy, Authorship: Technical Arts and the Culture of Knowledge from Antiquity to the Renaissance
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Manmade Marvels in Medieval Culture and Literature
Authors: Scott Lightsey
Series Title: The New Middle Ages
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230605640
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts Collection, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: Scott Lightsey 2007
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4039-7441-9Published: 24 September 2007
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-53502-6Published: 24 September 2007
eBook ISBN: 978-0-230-60564-0Published: 06 August 2007
Series ISSN: 2945-5936
Series E-ISSN: 2945-5944
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 212
Number of Illustrations: 8 b/w illustrations
Topics: Medieval Literature, History of Britain and Ireland, History of Medieval Europe, Classical and Antique Literature, World History, Global and Transnational History