Comparative Cultural Studies and the Study of Medieval Literature

In her article “Comparative Cultural Studies and the Study of the Medieval Literature” Roberta Capelli discusses the importance of studying medieval authors and manuscripts using a contextual and comparatist approach. She postulates that the conceptual eclecticism and empirical pragmatism of comparative cultural studies offer scholars useful theoretical and methodological parameters of analysis to understand the palimpsestic nature of medieval texts. While inter- and multidisciplinary training in the traditional fields of medieval studies (textual criticism, history, philosophy, etc.) is necessary to deal with the socio-cultural, textual, visual, etc., complexities of the medieval world, Capelli suggests that medievalists would benefit from employing new media technologies in digital humanities.