A Cultural History of Comedy in the Middle AgesMartha BaylessLabel: Bloomsbury AcademicDescription: Comedy and humor flourished in manifold forms in the Middle Ages. This volume covering the period from 1000 to 1400 CE examines the themes practice and effects of medieval comedy from the caustic morality of principled satire to the exuberant improprieties of many wildly popular tales of sex and trickery. The analysis includes the most influential authors of the age such as Chaucer Boccaccio Juan Ruiz and Hrothswitha of Gandersheim as well as lesser-known works and genres such as songs of insult nonsense-texts satirical church paintings topical jokes and obscene pilgrim badges. The analysis touches on most of the literatures of medieval Europe including a discussion of the formal attitudes toward humor in Christian Jewish and Islamic traditions. The volume demonstrates the many ways in which medieval humor could be playful casual sophisticated important subversive and even dangerous.Each chapter takes a different theme as its focus: form theory praxis identities the body politics and power laughter and ethics.
