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The Spirit of England: Selected Essays of Stephen Medcalf
The Spirit of Selected Essays of Stephen Medcalf
308 pages, Hardcover
First published June 30, 2010
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April 26, 2011
I had better declare an interest. Stephen was my senior by 4 years at school. He was delightful then, though his erudition almost certainly had the unintended effect of reducing the competition for the School's Open Essay prize for several years. In recent years I have had the pleasure of reading his reviews and other articles in the TLS.
This collection has opened my eyes to the riches I have yet to explore, especially in medieval English literature. I had always tended to write off post-classical literature as a regrettable and largely crude interlude ending with the re-awakening represented by Chaucer, and, much like western sculpture and architecture, still struggling to equal the Ancients. I guessed that Stephen did not share that view, when I learnt (only in an obituary of him) that he had switched from Classics to English immediately after leaving school. Here he makes clear that eg Alfred the Great, was well grounded in the Latin classics, and that the Gawain poet, despite the magical devices that he uses, was a sophisticated and well-read man with profound moral and psychological insights to offer us.
This volume is as good an answer as one could wish to refute the charge of the classicists, and those who deny the value of non-vocational degrees, that English literature was not a worthy degree subject. Stephen shews it to be central and vital to our civilisation, and certainly not a soft option.
Stephen remained a devout but fun-loving Christian all his life, and all his views are grounded in his belief, but that need not deter atheists like me from loving this collection, any more than our having outgrown the Greek myths need spoil our enjoyment of Homer.
This collection has opened my eyes to the riches I have yet to explore, especially in medieval English literature. I had always tended to write off post-classical literature as a regrettable and largely crude interlude ending with the re-awakening represented by Chaucer, and, much like western sculpture and architecture, still struggling to equal the Ancients. I guessed that Stephen did not share that view, when I learnt (only in an obituary of him) that he had switched from Classics to English immediately after leaving school. Here he makes clear that eg Alfred the Great, was well grounded in the Latin classics, and that the Gawain poet, despite the magical devices that he uses, was a sophisticated and well-read man with profound moral and psychological insights to offer us.
This volume is as good an answer as one could wish to refute the charge of the classicists, and those who deny the value of non-vocational degrees, that English literature was not a worthy degree subject. Stephen shews it to be central and vital to our civilisation, and certainly not a soft option.
Stephen remained a devout but fun-loving Christian all his life, and all his views are grounded in his belief, but that need not deter atheists like me from loving this collection, any more than our having outgrown the Greek myths need spoil our enjoyment of Homer.
Displaying 1 of 1 review