Prosthetic Subjects in Medieval Literature and Culture

This book explores the vital prosthetic relationships between bodies and nonhuman objects/actants in the later Middle Ages, with an emphasis on fourteenth- and fifteenth-century English literature and culture. It focuses on the material objects and actants with which medieval bodies were so intimate, including not only recognizable assistive devices such as crutches and companion animals, but also more common literary and cultural objects such as armour, clothing, and religious relics. The prosthetic relation between bodies and objects in the Middle Ages demonstrates the non-separability of person and impairment, re-centring disabled figures in medieval texts despite the frequent narrative drive toward normalcy and miraculous healing. In doing so, this book explores how interdependency is fundamental to an understanding of the medieval subject, disabled and nondisabled alike.  

Richard H. Godden is Assistant Professor of English at Louisiana State University and co-editor of Monstrosity, Disability, and the Posthuman in the Medieval and Early Modern World and The Open Access Companion to The Canterbury Tales.