Bibliography
Murdoch, Brian, The apocryphal Adam and Eve in medieval Europe: vernacular translations and adaptations of the Vita Adae et Evae, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Book/Monograph
Citation details
Contributors
Work
The apocryphal Adam and Eve in medieval Europe: vernacular translations and adaptations of the Vita Adae et Evae
Place
Oxford
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Year
2009
BibTeX
Description
Abstract (cited)
This book examines the development in medieval European literature of the story of Adam and Eve after the expulsion from paradise. The gaps in what the Bible records of their lives were filled in early and medieval times to a great extent by apocrypha or pseudepigrapha such as the Latin Life of Adam and Eve (which merges at some points with a series of legends of the Holy Rood). It describes their attempt to return to paradise by undertaking penance whilst immersed in a river, Eve's second temptation, and the ways in which Adam and Eve cope with the novelties of childbirth and death. The Vita Adae et Evae is part of a broad apocryphal tradition, but is not a unified text, and there are very many variations within the substantial number of extant versions. It was translated and adapted in prose, verse, and drama (as tracts, in chronicles, or as literary works) in virtually all western and some eastern European languages in the Middle Ages, and survived sometimes beyond that. These adaptations are examined on a comparative basis. There is a limited iconographical tradition. The book argues that the study of the apocryphal tradition demands examination of these vernacular texts; and also brings to light a very widespread aspect of European culture that disappeared to a large extent—though it did not die out completely—at the time of the Renaissance and Reformation, with their renewed insistence on canonicity and on the establishment of a foundation text for works of antiquity.
(source: publisher)
[3] “England, Wales, and Cornwall”
[4] “The Holy Roman Empire and beyond”
[5] “France, Brittany, and Italy”
[6] “Iconography”
[7] “Litteras Achiliacas: Conclusion”
web page identifiers
page name: Murdoch (Brian) 2009a
page url: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Murdoch_(Brian)_2009a
redirect: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Special:Redirect/page/29656
numerical alternative: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?curid=29656
page ID: 29656
page ID tracker: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Show:ID&id=29656
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
August 2016, last updated: September 2021
