Pamela M King | University of Glasgow (original) (raw)
Papers by Pamela M King
The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain, 2017
A widespread group of performance texts in English whose subject-matter draws on the Bible and ap... more A widespread group of performance texts in English whose subject-matter draws on the Bible and apocrypha, which have origins in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Almost all surviving English biblical drama is demonstrably rooted in the place of its production, with cycles surviving from York, Chester, Wakefield, and N-Town (long misidentified as Coventry)
Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 1986
Richard Beadle's York Plays (1982) was, following Lumiansky and Mills's Chester Plays (19... more Richard Beadle's York Plays (1982) was, following Lumiansky and Mills's Chester Plays (1974), the second new full edition of the great English cycles, which are beginning to receive modern editorial treatment in the wake of the vast strides in scholarship which have occurred since the major nineteenthand early-twentieth-century editions of the mystery plays. Beadle has now, in collaboration with Pamela King, followed up his edition with that most valuable of commodities, a volume of selections which is accessible in terms of price on the one hand and presentation of text on the other, in which all the benefits of detailed and up-to-date scholarship are brought to bear. This edition is designed "with the general reader and the student of medieval literature and early drama in mind," and there is also the understanding that it should be able to serve as a production text. It becomes patently clear in both the introduction and the texts themselves that the varied requirements of this wide range of read ership are always kept in mind. The general introduction not only prefaces the York Cycle but is some thing of a primer to the whole area of medieval scriptural drama. Written with the utmost clarity, yet avoiding oversimplification, it deals concisely with the most significant aspects, both dramaturgical and literary, of the drama. The idea, alas, not entirely dead, that medieval drama was the na:ive product of simple men, is effectively challenged by discussion of the various practical considerations like the financial and topographical organi zation of performances and the development of texts, as well as the many details of the mise-en-scene on which modern research has been able to shed some light, such as acting, scenery and decor, costuming, and the use of masks and music. Literary and general artistic aspects discussed include typology and iconography. Others, such as verse and rhetoric, are sensibly ( considering the variations within the cycle) consigned to the headnotes preceding each play. In an edition clearly intended to help broaden the reception of both this cycle and medieval cycle drama in general, the editors are at pains to promote the notion of the plays as living drama rather than just literary or antiquarian pieces. This is achieved through not only lively discussion of the aspects already mentioned but also some consideration of their impact on and significance for their contemporary
Cadaver tomb phenomenon was orthodox, even reactionary – novel only in the manner of its plastic ... more Cadaver tomb phenomenon was orthodox, even reactionary – novel only in the manner of its plastic expression. Early15C cadaver tombs exceptionally inscrutable. Examines intellectual and philosophical basis of elaborate tombs, funerals and mortality.
The volume in which the essay appears considers whether the division into historical periods &quo... more The volume in which the essay appears considers whether the division into historical periods "medieval" and "renaissance" has lasting utility. It is written largely from the point of view of the historian. This essay takes the particular problem that the scholar of theatre and other forms of performance faces in dealing with events that were ephemeral, and whose record is often inscrutable. I suggest that while "medieval" and "renaissance" are useful tools in aesthetic discrimination, their relationship is more safely viewed like a movement of tectonic plates, rather than in terms of watershed dates.
Compares the treatment of the Pentecost episode and its staging in the very different pageants of... more Compares the treatment of the Pentecost episode and its staging in the very different pageants of York and Chester, incidentally showing why it was considered a suitable theme for the York Potters’ Guild to produce.
This paper speculates about what modern reception theory, focusing as it does on assumed cultural... more This paper speculates about what modern reception theory, focusing as it does on assumed cultural norms, can and cannot offer the student of medieval drama. It can, for example, throw into relief the fundamental question of what we can know about medieval reception, so that we avoid foregrounding the evident literary simplicity of some of these texts at the expense of acknowledging their cultural complexities. The student of medieval theatre does well to proceed with caution in speculating on or theorizing the relationship between medieval plays and their audiences. The relationship between speech and action deserves at least to be problematized. Beyond that lies the wider challenge of reconstructing the differences between medieval and the modern audience assumptions about the cultural event in which they are participating and its relationship to the world they inhabit. The paper suggests, drawing examples from the York Cycle, that a modern audience member cannot avoid imposing upo...
The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain, 2017
A widespread group of performance texts in English whose subject-matter draws on the Bible and ap... more A widespread group of performance texts in English whose subject-matter draws on the Bible and apocrypha, which have origins in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Almost all surviving English biblical drama is demonstrably rooted in the place of its production, with cycles surviving from York, Chester, Wakefield, and N-Town (long misidentified as Coventry)
Studies in the Age of Chaucer, 1986
Richard Beadle's York Plays (1982) was, following Lumiansky and Mills's Chester Plays (19... more Richard Beadle's York Plays (1982) was, following Lumiansky and Mills's Chester Plays (1974), the second new full edition of the great English cycles, which are beginning to receive modern editorial treatment in the wake of the vast strides in scholarship which have occurred since the major nineteenthand early-twentieth-century editions of the mystery plays. Beadle has now, in collaboration with Pamela King, followed up his edition with that most valuable of commodities, a volume of selections which is accessible in terms of price on the one hand and presentation of text on the other, in which all the benefits of detailed and up-to-date scholarship are brought to bear. This edition is designed "with the general reader and the student of medieval literature and early drama in mind," and there is also the understanding that it should be able to serve as a production text. It becomes patently clear in both the introduction and the texts themselves that the varied requirements of this wide range of read ership are always kept in mind. The general introduction not only prefaces the York Cycle but is some thing of a primer to the whole area of medieval scriptural drama. Written with the utmost clarity, yet avoiding oversimplification, it deals concisely with the most significant aspects, both dramaturgical and literary, of the drama. The idea, alas, not entirely dead, that medieval drama was the na:ive product of simple men, is effectively challenged by discussion of the various practical considerations like the financial and topographical organi zation of performances and the development of texts, as well as the many details of the mise-en-scene on which modern research has been able to shed some light, such as acting, scenery and decor, costuming, and the use of masks and music. Literary and general artistic aspects discussed include typology and iconography. Others, such as verse and rhetoric, are sensibly ( considering the variations within the cycle) consigned to the headnotes preceding each play. In an edition clearly intended to help broaden the reception of both this cycle and medieval cycle drama in general, the editors are at pains to promote the notion of the plays as living drama rather than just literary or antiquarian pieces. This is achieved through not only lively discussion of the aspects already mentioned but also some consideration of their impact on and significance for their contemporary
Cadaver tomb phenomenon was orthodox, even reactionary – novel only in the manner of its plastic ... more Cadaver tomb phenomenon was orthodox, even reactionary – novel only in the manner of its plastic expression. Early15C cadaver tombs exceptionally inscrutable. Examines intellectual and philosophical basis of elaborate tombs, funerals and mortality.
The volume in which the essay appears considers whether the division into historical periods &quo... more The volume in which the essay appears considers whether the division into historical periods "medieval" and "renaissance" has lasting utility. It is written largely from the point of view of the historian. This essay takes the particular problem that the scholar of theatre and other forms of performance faces in dealing with events that were ephemeral, and whose record is often inscrutable. I suggest that while "medieval" and "renaissance" are useful tools in aesthetic discrimination, their relationship is more safely viewed like a movement of tectonic plates, rather than in terms of watershed dates.
Compares the treatment of the Pentecost episode and its staging in the very different pageants of... more Compares the treatment of the Pentecost episode and its staging in the very different pageants of York and Chester, incidentally showing why it was considered a suitable theme for the York Potters’ Guild to produce.
This paper speculates about what modern reception theory, focusing as it does on assumed cultural... more This paper speculates about what modern reception theory, focusing as it does on assumed cultural norms, can and cannot offer the student of medieval drama. It can, for example, throw into relief the fundamental question of what we can know about medieval reception, so that we avoid foregrounding the evident literary simplicity of some of these texts at the expense of acknowledging their cultural complexities. The student of medieval theatre does well to proceed with caution in speculating on or theorizing the relationship between medieval plays and their audiences. The relationship between speech and action deserves at least to be problematized. Beyond that lies the wider challenge of reconstructing the differences between medieval and the modern audience assumptions about the cultural event in which they are participating and its relationship to the world they inhabit. The paper suggests, drawing examples from the York Cycle, that a modern audience member cannot avoid imposing upo...