Medieval Fantasy As Performance ─ The Society for Creative Anachronism and the Current Middle Ages

To test the notion that a wave of medievalism is overtaking American culture, Cramer (communication, City U. of New York) examines the role-playing Society to discover how members adapt and employ ideas about the Middle Ages in performance, ritual reenactment, living history, and re-creation. He argues that rather than recreating the Middle Ages, members use performance to construct a post-modern counter-culture framed as medieval and centered around a reconstruction of the medieval king game. He should know; he has been a member for 30 years. After a brief history of the Society since its birth in 1966, he looks at creative medievalism, interpersonal performance, on the field of the summer king, and in the hall of the winter king. Appended are a list of the kingdoms and of the major wars, and the history of the Society according to Olsgaard--Duke Henrik of Havn, the first crowned king. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michael A. Cramer is an actor, director, filmmaker, and scholar, and he teaches communications and theatre at the City University of New York. He has published articles and reviews in Theatre Journal, Medievalism, and Sixteenth Century Journal.