Dr. Birger Vanwesenbeeck
Department of English Professor Birger Vanwesenbeeck is the author of a chapter in the essay volume “Rereading Huizinga: Autumn of the Middle Ages, a Century Later,” published in August by the University of Amsterdam Press.
The volume, which gathers essays by scholars from around the world, is devoted to a critical reappraisal of “The Autumn of the Middle Ages,” Johan Huizinga’s 1919 landmark study of the life, customs and culture of the late Middle Ages.
In his chapter contribution, Dr. Vanwesenbeeck explores the relevance of Huizinga’s much-discussed concept of the “waning” of the Middle Ages for current debates about “late style” and lateness within literary studies. An early version of this chapter was delivered as the Magliocco Lecture at Northwestern Illinois University in 2017.
An official book launch of the volume will take place at Columbia University on Oct. 30.
