In search of another medieval imagery: on the background of literature (a look from the new medievalism)

Abstract

Treating the Middle Ages presents a dilemma: which referential should be adopted when trying to approach this period of our history? Since its presumed end, the Middle Ages have been the object of many, often unfavorable, criticisms, carried out under the protection of great intellectuals of each era. For the humanists, the period offered nothing relevant; for the intellectuals of the 18^th century, the Middle Ages, had nothing to contribute. It seemed that the hope that housed the rescue of local traditions and legends would provide, during the romanticism, a propitious environment to soften the attack against the Middle Ages; however, for most intellectuals, the idealization of the period diverted the focus and created a fantasy of knights, tournaments and high doses of courtesy. The revisionism of the 20^th century considerably helped to rethink this historical distortion and tried to redeem, or, at least, reconcile the narration of historical events through the clearer vision offered by the study of daily life, the mentalities in the configuration of the medieval imagery. It is up to the current century to go on and rethink the information about this period, through theoretical lines such as New Medievalism and its multidisciplinary proposals. A new century for a new medieval imagery. This paper aims to contribute for the discussion by treating four aspects that have allowed to see a possible new imagery revealed between the lines of history and the literary creation: utopia, courtly love, the female image and the chivalric ideal.