Water in Medieval Literature

An Ecocritical Reading

Albrecht Classen

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2017
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781978785106
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism & Nature
• Index: Literature

Ecocritical thinking has sensitized us more than ever before to the tremendous importance of water for human life, as it is richly reflected in the world of literature. The great relevance of water also in the Middle Ages might come as a surprise for many readers, but the evidence assembled here confirms that also medieval poets were keenly aware of the importance of water to sustain all life, to provide understanding of life's secrets, to mirror love, and to connect the individual with God. In eleven chapters major medieval European authors and their works are discussed here, taking us from the world of Old Norse to Irish and Latin literature, to German, French, English, and Italian romances and other narratives.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Water in Medieval Literature
• Water in Medieval Literature
• Contents
• An Introduction
• Chapter 1
• Water, Literature, Symbolism, and Epistemology in the Pre-Modern Age
• Chapter 2
• Water and Voyages in the Goliardic Epic Poem of
• Chapter 3
• The Experience with Water in
• Chapter 4
• Water Worlds in the
• by Marie de France
• Chapter 5
• Hartmann von Aue’s
• Chapter 6
• Water Symbolism in Wolfram von Eschenbach’s
• Chapter 7
• Mechthild of Magdeburg’s
• Chapter 8
• The Water Worlds in Boccaccio’s
• (ca. 1351)
• Chapter 9
• Water as Markers of Identity, Space, and Time in the Icelandic Saga
• Chapter 10
• Water Creatures, Wells, the Other Life, Hybridity, and the Aquatic Dimension
• Chapter 11
• Marguerite de Navarre’s
• and other Problems with Water
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author