slauderdale’s Reviews > The Fantasy of the Middle Ages: An Epic Journey through Imaginary Medieval Worlds > Status Update

But sometimes it really does sound like they're saying, "We can make history what we want!" and I'm, just, no. ;) That might inevitably be what historians do to some extent, but it shouldn't be their intent.

Ultimately, I think the cranks were right. A very beautiful book with an admirable agenda that kind of muddles the overall message. Like I think, and hope, that what they're getting at is we should aim at more inclusive medieval-based fantasies and creations, and we can do this in part by recognizing that the past was more inclusive than longstanding scholarship would have us believe.

But I suppose that is also part of the point that the authors are making: the two becoming indissoluble ("Medieval history has been continually reimagined ... resulting in the modern understanding of the Middle Ages as a place that is simultaneously "real" and entirely imaginary, moving fluidly between fact and fiction. These boundary crossings are very much in the spirit of the medieval imagination...")

Eh, maybe I was just being one of the cranks before. Feel like I'm starting to settle into the stride of this book now. It gets confusing, though, because I think sometimes the term "medievalisms" is being used to reference embellishment by medieval people themselves - ie. of the past, or of other cultures - rather than later generations embellishing upon or drawing inspiration from the Middle Ages.

OTOH, if you know going in that this book is not meant as an objective (by some standard, anyway) scholarly exploration of medievalisms but as an art exhibition catalogue designed to go with "an exhibition of the same name presented in June to September of 2022 at the J. Paul Getty Museum," you'll be much happier. ;)

I had read a few reviews complaining about the wokeness of this book and thought "Ah. This book is being read by cranks." Then I started reading it and discovered that the cranks were right. ;) Drinking game proposal - swig for all instances of "inclusiv-", "cisgender," "heteronormative," etc.!