Medieval Affect, Feeling, and Emotion

Provides a new, intersectional investigation of affects, feelings, and emotions in late Middle English literature.

This collection conducts an intersectional investigation of affects, feelings, and emotions in non-religious late Middle English literatures. From Geoffrey Chaucer to Gavin Douglas, eight chapters by leading scholars examine the coexistence of emotion and affect in Late Medieval representations of feeling.Representations of feeling in medieval literature are varied and complex. This new collection of essays demonstrates that the history of emotions and affect theory are similarly insufficient for investigating the intersection of body and mind that late Middle English literatures evoke. While medieval studies has generated a rich scholarly literature on 'affective piety', this collection charts an intersectional new investigation of affects, feelings, and emotions in non-religious contexts. From Geoffrey Chaucer to Gavin Douglas, and from practices of witnessing to the adoration of objects, essays in this volume analyze the coexistence of emotion and affect in late medieval representations of feeling.