First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Consisting of more than 70 papers written by scholars concerned with pre-Christian Norse religion, the articles discuss subjects such as archaeology, art history, historical archaeology, history, history of ideas, theological history, literature, onomastics, Scandinavian languages, and Scandinavian studies. The interdisciplinary aim of the book brings together text-based and material-based researchers to improve scholarly exchange and dialogue and provide a variety of contributions that elucidate topics such as worldview and cosmology, ritual and religious practice, myth and memory, as well as reception and present-day use of old Norse religion.

A follow-up publication to the Handbook of Medieval Studies, this new reference work turns to a different focus: medieval culture. Medieval research has grown tremendously in depth and breadth over the last decades. Particularly our understanding of medieval culture, of the basic living conditions, and the specific value system prevalent at that time has considerably expanded, to a point where we are in danger of no longer seeing the proverbial forest for the trees. The present, innovative handbook offers compact articles on essential topics, ideals, specific knowledge, and concepts defining the medieval world as comprehensively as possible. The topics covered in this new handbook pertain to issues such as love and marriage, belief in God, hell, and the devil, education, lordship and servitude, Christianity versus Judaism and Islam, health, medicine, the rural world, the rise of the urban class, travel, roads and bridges, entertainment, games, and sport activities, numbers, measuring, the education system, the papacy, saints, the senses, death, and money.

This Companion to the Nibelungenlied draws on the expertise of scholars from Germany, Britain, and the United States to offer the reader fresh perspectives on a wide variety of topics regarding the epic: the latest theories regarding manuscript tradition, authorship, conflict, combat, and politics, the Otherworld and its inhabitants, eroticism (in both the Nibelungenlied and Wagner's Ring), the twentieth-century reception both of the Nibelungenlied and of its most intriguing protagonist, Kriemhild, key concepts used by the poet, the heroic, feudal, and courtly elements in the work, and an analysis of archetypal elements from the perspective of Jungian psychology.

Since its premiere in 1868, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg has defied repeated upheavals in the cultural-political landscape of German statehood to retain its unofficial status as the German national opera. The work’s significance as a touchstone of national culture survived even such troubling episodes as its public endorsement in 1933 as ‘the most German of all German operas’ by Joseph Goebbels or the rendition in previous years by audiences at Bayreuth of both national and Nazi-party anthems at the work’s culmination. This chequered reception history and apparent propensity for reinterpretation or reclamation has long fuelled debates over the socio-political meanings of Wagner’s musical narrative. On the question of Beckmesser, for instance, heated arguments have surrounded the existence of antisemitic stereotypes in the work as well as their possible indication of a racial-political dimension to Sachs’s restoration of Nuremberg society. Through a combination of musical-textual analysis with critical theory, this book interrogates the ideological underpinnings of Die Meistersinger’s narrative. In four interconnected studies of the characters of Walther, Sachs, Beckmesser, and Eva, the book traces a critical potential within the opera’s construction of provincial and national identities and problematizes existing discourse around its depiction of race and gender.

This interdisciplinary handbook provides extensive information about research in medieval studies and its most important results over the last decades. The handbook is a reference work which enables the readers to quickly and purposely gain insight into the important research discussions and to inform themselves about the current status of research in the field. The handbook consists of four parts. The first, large section offers articles on all of the main disciplines and discussions of the field. The second section presents articles on the key concepts of modern medieval studies and the debates therein. The third section is a lexicon of the most important text genres of the Middle Ages. The fourth section provides an international bio-bibliographical lexicon of the most prominent medievalists in all disciplines. A comprehensive bibliography rounds off the compendium. The result is a reference work which exhaustively documents the current status of research in medieval studies and brings the disciplines and experts of the field together.

Robert W. Witkin unpacks Adorno's notoriously difficult critique of popular culture in an engaging and accessible style, looking first at the development of the overarching theories of authority, commodification and negative dialectics. He then goes on to consider Adorno's writing on specific aspects of popular culture such as radio, film and popular music.