A new look at the way in which medieval European literature depicts
torture and brutality.
An ugly subject, but one that needs to be treated thoroughly and
comprehensively, with a discreet wit and no excessive relish. These
needs are richly satisfied in Larissa Tracy's bold and important book.
DEREK PEARSALL, ProfessorEmeritus, Harvard University.
Torture - that most notorious aspect of medieval culture and society -
has evolved into a dominant mythology, suggesting that the Middle Ages
was a period during which sadistic torment wasinflicted on citizens with
impunity and without provocation: popular museums displaying such
gruesome implements as the rack, the strappado, the gridiron, the wheel,
and the Iron Maiden can be found in many modern European cities.These
lurid images of medieval torture have re-emerged within recent
discussions on American foreign policy and the introduction of torture
legislation as a weapon in the "War on Terror", and raised questions
about its history and reality, particularly given its proliferation in
some literary genres and its relative absence in others.
This book challenges preconceived ideas about the prevalence of torture
and judicial brutality in medieval society byarguing that their
portrayal in literature is not mimetic. Instead, it argues that the
depictions of torture and brutality represent satire, critique and
dissent; they have didactic and political functions in opposing the
statusquo. Torture and brutality are intertextual literary motifs that
negotiate cultural anxieties of national identity; by situating these
practices outside their own boundaries in the realm of the barbarian
"Other", medieval and early-modern authors define themselves and their
nations in opposition to them. Works examined range from Chaucer to the
Scandinavian sagas to Shakespeare, enabling a true comparative approach
to be taken.
Larissa Tracy isAssociate Professor, Longwood University.
