Thinking of the Medieval : Midcentury Intellectuals and the Middle Ages

Revealing the profound influence of the Middle Ages on mid-twentieth-century thought and the influence of these intellectual endeavours on present-day politics, art, and history, this interdisciplinary collection reveals a surprising undercurrent in the work of a diverse group of thinkers and traces their ongoing legacy in intellectual history.

The mid-twentieth century gave rise to a rich array of new approaches to the study of the Middle Ages by both professional medievalists and those more well-known from other pursuits, many of whom continue to exert their influence over politics, art, and history today. Attending to the work of a diverse and transnational group of intellectuals – Hannah Arendt, Erich Auerbach, W. E. B. Du Bois, Frantz Fanon, Erwin Panofsky, Simone Weil, among others – the essays in this volume shed light on these thinkers in relation to one another and on the persistence of their legacies in our own time. This interdisciplinary collection gives us a fuller and clearer sense of how these figures made some of their most enduring contributions with medieval culture in mind. Thinking of the Medieval is a timely reminder of just how vital the Middle Ages have been in shaping modern thought.