Islands and Cities in Medieval Myth, Literature, and History: Papers Delivered at the International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, in 2005, 2006, and 2007

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The ‘spatial turn’ in recent discussions about the relevance of ‘space’ and ‘place’ in medieval literature inspired the editors to transcend the boundaries of Europe and extend their investigation to Pre-Columbian America and the Far East. The results are surprising. Since cultures across the world associated both islands and walled cities with notions of paradise, the investigations reveal striking commonalities, e.g., between Dante’s Island of the Purgatorio and the island of Japan. In addition, several contributions outline visitor’s reactions to and influence on medieval cities with similar results (Kyoto, Paris, Nuremberg). Thus the combination of interspatial approaches opens up unusual perspectives on bounded space (whether by walls or by water) in world literatures and history.