The Grounds of English Literature by Christopher Cannon

The Grounds of English Literature by Christopher Cannon

The centuries just after the Norman Conquest are the forgotten period of English literary history. In fact, the years 1066-1300 witnessed an unparalleled ingenuity in the creation of written forms, for this was a time when almost every writer was unaware of the existence of other English writing. In a series of detailed readings of the more important early Middle English works, Cannon shows how the many and varied texts of the period laid the foundations for the project of English literature. This richness is for the first time given credit in these readings by means of an innovative theory of literary form that accepts every written shape as itself a unique contribution to the history of ideas. This theory also suggests that the impoverished understanding of literature we now commonly employ is itself a legacy of this early period, an attribute of the single form we have learned to call 'romance'. A number of reading methods have lately taught us to be more generous in our understandings of what literature might be, but this book shows us that the very variety we now strive to embrace anew actually formed the grounds of English literature-a richness we only lost when we forgot how to recognize it.

Review from previous edition This extraordinary book will have a transformative impact on the study of Middle English literary production in the centuries following the Norman ConquestIts greatness lies in the sophistication and brilliance with which it generates entirely new questions - in a sense an entirely new field - out of a written milieu the author defines as the very "grounds of English literature", allowing the formal proclivities of the artefacts he examines to generate the theoretical, formalist, and historical lines of enquiry the book itself pursues. This is surely one of the most significant and groundbreaking books ever written on pre-Ricardian English literature. * Bruce W. Holsinger, Associate Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder *
Christopher Cannon's The Grounds of English Literature deals with the neglected texts of early Middle English literature in a straightforward, and also in a more subtle, sense. Most straightforwardly, it considers these early texts as a cluster of provisional points of departure for subsequent English literature. More subtly, it discovers a way of reading these texts as 'lone' objects, which are nevertheless 'grounded' in and by their material circumstances. Cannon develops this latter emphasis with notable originality. This is a splendid work, vividly couched in keen, and often elegant, prose. * Paul Strohm, William B. Ransford Professor of Medieval Literature, Columbia University *
No one working actively in Middle English studies knows as much about this period as Christopher Cannon. The Grounds of English Literature has all the virtues of his previous work: an intense engagement with the details of vocabulary, genre, and literary form; an aspiration to locate the analysis of those details in a broad theoretical framework; and a sensitivity to the ways in which the reception histories of medieval literary works (through editing, teaching, and criticism) have shaped our understanding of their meaning and canonicity. * Seth Lerer, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Stanford University *
Cannon's own readings are intellectually intense, bracing, and rich in their associations ... swaggeringly brilliant ... Cannon's book is an exciting and virtuoso performance. It is heartening, even at times breathtaking, to see such momentous conclusions come out of Early Middle English * David Lawton, Wahsington University in St. Louis *
A theoretically engaged critical monograph ... Christopher Cannon's closely packed book deserves a wide readership * Nicholas Perkins, Times Literary Supplement *

Dr. Eli Gelfand is a clinical cardiologist, who provides comprehensive care for patients with a full range of heart and vascular problems at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
He is the Director of the Vascular Diagnostic Laboratory, Harvard Medical School and is the, Harvard Medial School and is the Associate Cardiovascular Fellowship Director at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Dr. Christopher P. Cannon, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Physician in the Cardiovascular Division at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a senior investigator of the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) Study Group. Dr. Cannon has published more than 500 original articles, reviews, editorials, book chapters, and electronic publications in the field of acute coronary syndromes.
Dr. Cannon has received numerous awards including the Alfred Steiner Research Award, Upjohn Achievement in Research Award, and Robert F. Loeb Award for Excellence in Clinical Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association and of the American College of Cardiology.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780199230396
ISBN 10	0199230390
Title	The Grounds of English Literature
Author	Christopher Cannon
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2007-11-29
Number of pages	250
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable