Facing up to the History of Emotions [electronic resource] / edited by Stephanie Downes, Stephanie Trigg.

1. Facing Up to the History of Emotions -- 2. Reading faces: how did late medieval Europeans interpret emotions in faces? -- 3. Gower's blushing bird, Philomela's transforming face -- 4. Mirthful faces in The Name of the Rose -- 5. The redemptive power of the face: from Beatrice (Portinari) to Bérénice (Bejo) -- 6. The grins of others: Figuring ethnic difference in medieval facial expressions -- 7. Phenomenal pain: Embodying the Passion in the Life of Elizabeth of Spalbeek -- 8. Emotions in history and literature -- 9. Erratum to: Mediating meanings: conservation of the Staffordshire Hoard.

This book brings together several strands of medieval and medievalist work in the history of emotions, with a focus on literary, historical and cinema studies. It asks how we may best 'face up' to work that has been done already in these fields, and speculates about work that might yet be done, especially by medievalists working across medieval and postmedieval sources. In the idiom 'facing up,' its editors evoke the impulse to assess and realize the place of medieval studies in the burgeoning field of emotions research. Conceptually, psychologically, and artistically, the face is perceived as being at the forefront of many human interactions and emotional practices - as such, the face is not only a powerful conceptual site for theorizing human relationships, past and present, or a site for the representation of emotion: it is itself a catalyst for feeling. As such, the contributions gathered here provide a cutting-edge reflection on the history of medieval emotions. Previously published in postmedieval Volume 8, issue 1, February 2017. Stephanie Downes is Lecturer at La Trobe University, Australia. Stephanie Trigg is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the University of Melbourne, Australia.