The Evolution of Ideas about Sport through Medieval Literature
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to understand how societal ideas surrounding sport have evolved from the time of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur in the fifteenth century to more modern adaptations of his work by T.H. White and Marion Zimmer Bradley in the twentieth century, comparing the works to present-day sport theory. No secondary sources have taken into account sport as a whole, in any of these three works, failing to explore the portrayal of athletes, spectatorship, and the evolution of sport's social significance. By examining the way these factors are described in Malory's work and comparing the descriptions to the accounts of sport in White and Bradley, conclusions will be drawn about what ideas surrounding sport have evolved, remained the same, been created, or have been lost based on present-day sport theory.
Subject
sportssporting
medieval literature
medieval sports
Sir Lancelot
social influence
Sir Thomas Malory
TH White
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Citation
Gonzalez, Lauren (2020). The Evolution of Ideas about Sport through Medieval Literature. Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /175429.