Book contents
- War and Literary Studies
- Cambridge Critical Concepts
- War and Literary Studies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: War, Literature, and the History of Knowledge
- Part I Origins and Theories
- Part II Foundational Concepts
- Chapter 8 War and Language
- Chapter 9 War and Aesthetics
- Chapter 10 War and Historicity
- Chapter 11 War and Sensation
- Chapter 12 War and Civilians
- Chapter 13 War and Trauma
- Chapter 14 War and Religion
- Chapter 15 War and Gender
- Part III Emerging Concepts
- Index
Chapter 14 - War and Religion
from Part II - Foundational Concepts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 January 2023
- War and Literary Studies
- Cambridge Critical Concepts
- War and Literary Studies
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: War, Literature, and the History of Knowledge
- Part I Origins and Theories
- Part II Foundational Concepts
- Chapter 8 War and Language
- Chapter 9 War and Aesthetics
- Chapter 10 War and Historicity
- Chapter 11 War and Sensation
- Chapter 12 War and Civilians
- Chapter 13 War and Trauma
- Chapter 14 War and Religion
- Chapter 15 War and Gender
- Part III Emerging Concepts
- Index
Summary
In the literary field, the intertwinement of war and religion is nowhere as prominent as in epic poetry. Within the European horizon Christian-Muslim confrontations are prominent, not only in chansons de geste and in Renaissance epics, the standard highlights of literary history, but right back to early Muslim-Byzantine confrontations and Carolingian warfare in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as through the seventeenth and even the eighteenth centuries. This chapter explores ways in which epic poetry participates in spatial delineations and cultural articulations of Europe as a Christian realm from the Iberian Peninsula through the Mediterranean to Central and Eastern Europe. It also considers ways in which a variety of nuances may be detected beyond the overall religious framing of conflicts: empathy vis-à-vis the enemy may be articulated, and problematic behavior of national-imperial soldiery may be exposed; admiration for aspects of Muslim culture – and even for major enemies – may be articulated; furthermore commercial as well as other secular concerns (like piracy) may motivate warfare that is framed as religious.
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- Information
- War and Literary Studies , pp. 230 - 243Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023