The boundaries of the human in medieval English literature

About this book

"Animals and 'wild men' are everywhere in medieval culture, but their role in illuminating medieval constructions of humanity has never been properly explored. This book gathers together a large number of themes and subjects (including the Bestiary, heraldry, and hunting), and examines them as part of a unified discourse about the body and its creative transformations. 'Human' and 'animal' are terms traditionally opposed to one another, but their relationship must always be characterized by a dynamic instability. Humans scout into the animal zone, manipulating and re-shaping 'animal' bodies in accordance with their own social imagining - yet these forays are risky since they lead to questions about what humanity consists in, and whether it can ever be forfeited. Studies of birds, foxes, 'game' animals, the wild man, and shape-shifting women fill out the argument of this book, which sheds new light on works by Chaucer, Gower, the Gamain-poet, and Henryson, as well as showing that many less familiar texts have rewards that an informed reading can reveal."--Jacket.