What is an Image in Medieval and Early Modern England?

Book excerpt: The premise that Western culture has undergone a pictorial turn (W.J.T. Mitchell) has prompted renewed interest in theorizing the visual image. In recent decades researchers in the humanities and social sciences have documented the function and status of the image relative to other media, and have traced the history of its power and the attempts to disempower it. What is an Image in Medieval and Early Modern England? engages in this debate in two interrelated ways: by focusing on the (visual) image during a period that witnessed the Reformation and the invention of the printing press, and by exploring its status in relation to an array of texts including Arthurian romance, saints lives, stage plays, printed sermons, biblical epic, pamphlets, and psalms. This interdisciplinary volume includes contributions by leading authorities as well as younger scholars from the fields of English literature, art history, and Reformation history. As with all previous collections of essays produced under the auspices of the Swiss Association of Medieval and Early Modern English Studies, it seeks to foster dialogue between the two periods.