Wow! eBook
Heads Will Roll: Decapitation in the Medieval and Early Modern Imagination
Author(s): Larissa Tracy (Editor), Jeff Massey
- Publisher: Brill
- Publication Date: January 20, 2012
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 388 pages
- ISBN-10: 9004211551
- ISBN-13: 9789004211551
Book Description
Contributors: Tina Boyer, Thea Cervone, Dwayne C. Coleman, Christine F. Cooper-Rompato, Mark Faulkner, Andrew Fleck, Jay Paul Gates, Thomas Herron, Mary E. Leech, Nicola Masciandaro, Jeff Massey, Asa Simon Mittman, Larissa Tracy, and Renée Ward
Preface by: Jeffrey Jerome Cohen
Introduction:
The final cut, the fatal blow: Beheading is one of the most pervasive modes of execution in human history. From the iconic images of Judith sawing off the head of the tyrant Holofernes, to the animated head of the Green Knight in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, to the English block and the French Guillotine, to modern images of captured soldiers beheaded on camera by terrorists, decapitation crosses all boundaries of time, culture and genre and provides a spectacular and performative affirmation of power and authority. But beheading also serves multiple purposes in the corpus of medieval literature. It is a means by which to ensure death and immobilize a recalcitrant corpse; it is magical and prophetic; it is a marker of sanctity and theological propaganda; it is a testament to brutality and the reality of martial violence. Just as the head is given special significance in many medieval cultures, the act of beheading takes on special significance in the medieval texts collated in this collection.
Preface by: Jeffrey Jerome Cohen
Introduction:
The final cut, the fatal blow: Beheading is one of the most pervasive modes of execution in human history. From the iconic images of Judith sawing off the head of the tyrant Holofernes, to the animated head of the Green Knight in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, to the English block and the French Guillotine, to modern images of captured soldiers beheaded on camera by terrorists, decapitation crosses all boundaries of time, culture and genre and provides a spectacular and performative affirmation of power and authority. But beheading also serves multiple purposes in the corpus of medieval literature. It is a means by which to ensure death and immobilize a recalcitrant corpse; it is magical and prophetic; it is a marker of sanctity and theological propaganda; it is a testament to brutality and the reality of martial violence. Just as the head is given special significance in many medieval cultures, the act of beheading takes on special significance in the medieval texts collated in this collection.
The essays are arranged in chronological order from biblical examples to the earliest Anglo-Saxon hagiographic texts through the secular early modern iconography of Anne Boleyn, and feature the evolution of the “talking head”, beginning with silent heads and moving to locquacious examples. The miraculous motifs give way to magical episodes in medieval secular romances, and take on a mystical and allegorical dimension in early modern literature, drama, and popular culture. The final essay recontextualizes the evolution of decapitation in terms of the early Anglo-Saxon examples and modern reception.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Larissa Tracy, Ph.D. (2000) in Medieval Literature, Trinity College, Dublin, is Associate Professor of Medieval Literature at Longwood University. She has published extensively on medieval texts with a specific focus on torture and brutality, including Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature (D.S. Brewer, 2012).
Jeff Massey, Ph.D. (2003) in English Literature (Certificate in Medieval Studies), Emory University, is Associate Professor of English Language and Literature at Molloy College. He has published variously (from Chaucer to Hardy) but voices a particular interest in literary monstrosity.
Jeff Massey, Ph.D. (2003) in English Literature (Certificate in Medieval Studies), Emory University, is Associate Professor of English Language and Literature at Molloy College. He has published variously (from Chaucer to Hardy) but voices a particular interest in literary monstrosity.
