The Fantasy of the Middle Ages
An Epic Journey through Imaginary Medieval Worlds
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- $29.99
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- $29.99
Publisher Description
This abundantly illustrated book is an illuminating exploration of the impact of medieval imagery on three hundred years of visual culture.
From the soaring castles of Sleeping Beauty to the bloody battles of Game of Thrones, from Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings to mythical beasts in Dungeons & Dragons, and from Medieval Times to the Renaissance Faire, the Middle Ages have inspired artists, playwrights, filmmakers, gamers, and writers for centuries. Indeed, no other historical era has captured the imaginations of so many creators. This volume aims to uncover the many reasons why the Middle Ages have proven so applicable to a variety of modern moments from the eighteenth through the twenty-first century. These “medieval” worlds are often the perfect ground for exploring contemporary cultural concerns and anxieties, saying much more about the time and place in which they were created than they do about the actual conditions of the medieval period. With over 140 color illustrations, from sources ranging from thirteenth-century illuminated manuscripts to contemporary films and video games, and a preface by Game of Thrones costume designer Michele Clapton, The Fantasy of the Middle Ages will surprise and delight both enthusiasts and scholars.
This title is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from June 21 to September 11, 2022.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Since the mid–19th-century Gothic revival promulgated by Englishman Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, the rich history and art of the medieval period (ca. 500–1500) has been endlessly "interpreted... exploited, and revitalized" by generations of creators, according to this fascinating survey from medievalists Grollemond and Keene. As Game of Thrones costume designer Michele Clapton writes in the preface, iconography from the Middle Ages—knights and princesses, swords and armor—has long been imbued with magical elements to tell human stories with "boundless possibilities." In addition to dissecting the era's cinematic reimaginings in GoT (whose fictional worlds are inspired by such real-life happenings as the 15th century Wars of the Roses), Grollemond and Keene illuminate medieval echoes in pop cultural creations as disparate as Cinderella's castle at Disney World, role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, and the epic Middle-earth of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings franchise, which draws inspiration from, among many other things, motifs from the late 1400s version of Arthurian Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Giving each analysis the devotion of rigorous detectives, Grollemond and Keene reveal how, in modern retellings, these symbols and stories of the past represent timeless concerns. By turns informative and captivating, this will enchant historians as much as it will reenactors of the Renaissance Faire stripe.
