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Dr Bettina M Bildhauer, Reader

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bmeb@st-andrews.ac.uk
Phone: 01334 463666

Full research profile

Research and Teaching

My research and teaching focuses on medieval German literature in its cultural context, and on modern perceptions of the Middle Ages. My approach combines close analysis of texts, films and images with recent theoretical ideas. The main topics of my research are monstrosity, blood, medieval film and now things. Underlying much of my research is an interest in the limits of the human, both of individual human beings and of what counts as human. My monograph Medieval Blood (2006, paperback 2009) is concerned with blood as a crucial part of conceptualizations of the body, gender and subjectivity, as a marker of where bodies and humans end. It is particularly interested in the connections between medical, religious and literary ideas about blood, and in the anxieties expressed through the medieval obsession with blood.

In addition, I have studied and taught how humans are distinguished from other beings, especially monsters. My co-edited collection The Monstrous Middle Ages (with Robert Mills, 2006) is part of this interest. I am currently working on a monograph and an honours course on how humans are distinguished from things in thirteenth-century German texts.

My second main interest is the role of the Middle Ages in modernity. I work in particular on how the Middle Ages are represented in German cinema and film theory. My co-edited collection Medieval Film (with Anke Bernau, 2009) and my monograph Filming the Middle Ages (2011) investigate the crucial function of the Middle Ages for defining what it is to be modern, and what cinema can achieve.

For my work in these areas, I was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize for 'outstanding young scholars who have made a substantial and recognised contribution to their particular field of study' in 2009.

I am a frequent reviewer for the TLS and other journals.

I currently supervise PhD students in film as well as medieval studies and welcome applications from prospective PhD students in related fields.

PhD Supervision

Jamie Page, Miriam Buncombe, Alma Melchers

Publications

Medieval film (paperback edition)
Bildhauer, B. M. (ed.) & Bernau, A. (ed.) Sep-2011 Manchester University Press .
Research output : Book/Report › Book

Filming the Middle Ages
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2011 London: Reaktion Press .
Research output : Book/Report › Book

Medieval blood (paperback edition)
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2009 University of Wales Press . 245 p.
Research output : Book/Report › Book

Medieval Film
Bernau, A. & Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2009 Manchester University Press . 241 p.
Research output : Book/Report › Book

Medieval Blood
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2006 University of Wales Press . 245 p.
Research output : Book/Report › Book

Eine Epoche im Umbruch: Volkssprachliche Literalität 1200-1300
Bertelsmeier-Kierst, C. , Young, C. & Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2003 Niemeyer .
Research output : Book/Report › Book

The Monstrous Middle Ages
Bildhauer, B. M. E. & Mills, R. 2003 University of Wales Press . 236 p.
Research output : Book/Report › Book

 

Blood, bodies, Bynum
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2012 In: Blood-Symbol-Liquid. Santing, C. & Touber, J. (eds.). Peeters , p. 17–36.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Queer medieval time in Hamlet (1921)
Bildhauer, B. M. 2011 In: Sex, Gender and Time in Fiction and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan , p. 19-37.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Sign of the times: the semiotics of time and event in Sirk’s Sign of the Pagan
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2010 In: The Epic Film in World Culture. Burgoyne, R. (ed.). Routledge
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Cultural representations
Bildhauer, B. M. E. & Riches, S. 2010 In: Cultural History of the Human Body Vols I The Middle Ages. Bynum, W. & Kalof, L. (eds.). Berg
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Forward into the past: film theory's foundation in medievalism
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2009 In: Medieval Film. Bernau, A. & Bildhauer, B. (eds.). Manchester University Press , p. 40-59.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Introduction: The a-chronology of medieval film
Bildhauer, B. M. & Bernau, A. 2009 In: Medieval Film. Bernau, A. & Bildhauer, B. (eds.). Manchester: Manchester University Press , p. 1-19.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Mourning and violence: Kriemhild's incorporated memory
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2008 In: Women and death: representations of female victims and perpetrators in German culture 1500-2000. Fronius, H. & Linton, A. (eds.). Camden House , p. 60-75.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Das Mittelalter als Innenraum - Kosmos, Kathedrale, Kino
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2008 In: Innenräume in der Literatur des deutschen Mittelalters : XIX. Anglo-German colloquium, Oxford 2005. Hasebrink, B., Schiewer, H-J., Suerbaum, A. & Volfing, A. (eds.). Niemeyer , p. 409-426.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Mechthild von Magdeburg
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2007 In: Landmarks in German Women's Writing. Brown, H. (ed.). Peter Lang , p. 11-24.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

The Secrets of Women : A Medieval Perspective on Menstruation
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2005 In: Menstruation: History and Culture from Antiquity to Modernity. Palgrave , p. 65-75.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Introduction: Conceptualizing the Monstrous
Bildhauer, B. M. E. & Mills, R. 2003 In: The Monstrous Middle Ages. Bildhauer, B. & Mills, R. (eds.). University of Wales Press , p. 1-27.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Blood, Jews and Monsters in Medieval Culture
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2003 In: The Monstrous Middle Ages. Bildhauer, B. & Mills, R. (eds.). University of Wales Press , p. 75-96.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Bloodsuckers: the Construction of Female Sexuality in Medieval Science and Fiction
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2002 In: Consuming Narratives: Gender and Monstrous Appetites in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. University of Wales Press , p. 104-155.
Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

 

The co-presence of the dead
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2010 In : postmedieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies . 1 , 1-2
Research output : Contribution to journal › Article

Blood in medieval cultures
Bildhauer, B. M. E. Oct-2006 In : History Compass . 4 , 6 , p. 1049-1059.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Article

If you prick us do we not bleed? Making the body in Mären
Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2006 In : Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für Deutsche Philologie . 13 , p. 148-169.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Article

 

In Red-Beard's Tents: Knut Goerich, Friedrich Barbarossa
Bildhauer, B. M. 27-Apr-2012 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5691 , p. 8-8. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Beastly tales: Heinrich Hoffmann, Struwwelpeter
Bildhauer, B. M. Nov-2011 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement .
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

PIERS DISCHEVELE Myrie tales and gladde ymages
Bildhauer, B. 21-Oct-2011 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5664 , p. 88. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Cinematic Illuminations The Middle Ages on film
Bildhauer, B. 7-Jan-2011 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5623 , p. 24-24. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

THE MODULATED SCREAM Pain in late medieval culture
Bildhauer, B. 7-Jan-2011 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5623 , p. 24-24. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Martha W. Driver and Sid Ray, eds. Shakespeare and the Middle Ages: Essays on the Performance and Adaptation of the Plays with Medieval Sources or Settings. Jefferson: McFarland, 2010. 276 pp. Paperback £37.95. ISBN: 978-0-786-43495-3.
Bildhauer, B. M. 2011 In : The Mediaeval Journal . p. 91-92.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Medievalism in the Postcolonial World, ed. Nadia Altschul and Kathleen Davis
Bildhauer, B. M. 2011 In : European History Quarterly . 41 , 4 , p. 686-687.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

KING ROTHER AND HIS BRIDE Quest and counter-quest
Bildhauer, B. 3-Sep-2010 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5605 , p. 25-25. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

THE NIBELUNGENLIED The Lay of the Nibelungs
Bildhauer, B. 11-Jun-2010 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5593 , p. 34. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Tod auf der Bühne: (Rezension über: Jody Enders: Murder by Accident. Medieval Theater, Modern Media, Critical Intentions. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press 2009.)
Bildhauer, B. M. 31-May-2010 In : IASL online .
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Laughter and Narrative in the Later Middle Ages: German Comic Tales 1350-1525
Bildhauer, B. Apr-2010 In : Modern Language Review . 105 , p. 583-584. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Valerie Allen, On Farting and Susan Signe Morrison, Excrement in the Late Middle Ages
Bildhauer, B. M. 2010 In : Studies in the Age of Chaucer . 32 , p. 386-389.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

THE APOCRYPHAL ADAM AND EVE IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE
Bildhauer, B. 11-Dec-2009 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5567 , p. 22-22. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

MONSTROUS BIRTHS AND VISUAL CULTURE IN SIXTEENTH-CENTURY GERMANY
Bildhauer, B. 11-Sep-2009 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5554 , p. 10-10. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

THE MARVELOUS HAIRY GIRLS The Gonzales sisters and their worlds
Bildhauer, B. 11-Sep-2009 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5554 , p. 10-10. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

THE MASCULINE SELF IN LATE MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
Bildhauer, B. 7-Aug-2009 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5549 , p. 31-31. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

NAMING AND NAMELESSNESS IN MEDIEVAL ROMANCE
Bildhauer, B. 20-Mar-2009 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5529 , p. 32-32. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

THE NATURAL AND THE SUPERNATURAL IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Bildhauer, B. 24-Oct-2008 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 28-28. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

SAINTS AND ANIMALS IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Bildhauer, B. 24-Oct-2008 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 28-28. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Rules for the endgame - The world of the 'Nibelungenlied'
Bildhauer, B. 26-Sep-2008 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 29-29. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

From myths and stories: Medieval cultural history in the view of scientific-biography. Festschrift to Otfrid Ehrismann on the 65th birthday
Bildhauer, B. Jul-2008 In : Modern Language Review . 103 , p. 879-880. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Hollywood behind the wall: The cinema of East Germany
Bildhauer, B. Jun-2008 In : Journal of European Studies . 38 , 2 , p. 215-217. 3 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

German romance, vol 3, Iwein
Bildhauer, B. 22-Feb-2008 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5473 , p. 33-33. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

German romance, vol 2, Gauriel von Muntabel
Bildhauer, B. 22-Feb-2008 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5473 , p. 33-33. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

The erotic in the literature of medieval Britain
Bildhauer, B. 25-Jan-2008 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 32-33. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

The story of Judith. German poetry of Judith from 12th-until 16 century
Bildhauer, B. 2008 In : Medium Aevum . 77 , 1 , p. 145-146. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

'In praise of the whip' - A cultural history of arousal
Bildhauer, B. 7-Sep-2007 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5449 , p. 10-10. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Frauenlob's 'Song of Songs' - A medieval German poet and his masterpiece
Bildhauer, B. 10-Aug-2007 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 29-29. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Wonderful blood - Theology and practice in late medieval Northern Germany and beyond
Bildhauer, B. 6-Jul-2007 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 12-12. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Hybridity, identity and monstrosity in medieval Britain - On difficult middles
Bildhauer, B. 27-Apr-2007 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5430 , p. 31-31. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Courtly love, the love of courtliness, and the history of sexuality
Bildhauer, B. 16-Mar-2007 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5424 , p. 29-29. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

'Gemstone of paradise' - The Holy Grail in Wolfram's 'Parzival'
Bildhauer, B. 9-Mar-2007 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 26-26. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

A day in a medieval city
Bildhauer, B. 22-Dec-2006 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5412 , p. 38-38. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Binding words - Textual amulets in the Middle Ages
Bildhauer, B. 3-Nov-2006 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 29-29. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Sensus spiritualis - Studies in medieval signifies and the philology of culture
Bildhauer, B. 22-Sep-2006 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5399 , p. 33-33. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Ruling women - Queenship and gender in Anglo-Saxon literature
Bildhauer, B. 8-Sep-2006 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5397 , p. 25-25. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Suspended animation - Pain, pleasure and punishment in medieval culture
Bildhauer, B. 18-Aug-2006 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 13-13. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Visual culture and the German Middle Ages
Bildhauer, B. 12-May-2006 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5380 , p. 30-30. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

The premodern condition - Medievalism and the making of theory
Bildhauer, B. 14-Apr-2006 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5376 , p. 26-26. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Exemplaria
Bildhauer, B. 10-Mar-2006 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5371 , p. 25-25. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Medievalism and orientalism
Bildhauer, B. 27-Jan-2006 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5365 , p. 25-25. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

The idea of Anglo-Saxon England in Middle English romance
Bildhauer, B. 6-Jan-2006 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 23-23. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Script - Power - Holiness in the literatures of the Jewish-Christian-Muslim Middle Ages.
Bildhauer, B. 2006 In : Medium Aevum . 75 , 1 , p. 128-129. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Wirnt von Gravenberg's 'Wigalois'
Bildhauer, B. 28-Oct-2005 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5352 , p. 20-20. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

The medieval hero on screen
Bildhauer, B. 1-Apr-2005 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5322 , p. 33-33. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Mechthild von Magdeburg and her book - Gender and the making of textual authority
Bildhauer, B. 24-Dec-2004 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5308 , p. 38-38. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Expressionist film: New perspectives.
Bildhauer, B. Dec-2004 In : Journal of European Studies . 34 , 4 , p. 365-367. 3 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

In Brief (Recent releases for the week November 26, 2004)
Bildhauer, B. , Darach, J. , Tahourdin, A. , Ede, P. M. , Rahim, S. , Nuttall, P. , Vivian-Neal, H. & Warman, M. 26-Nov-2004 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 32-33. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Reading the medieval book
Bildhauer, B. 12-Nov-2004 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . p. 30-30. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

'Parzival' (Translated by Cyril Edwards)
Bildhauer, B. 30-Jul-2004 In : TLS, The Times Literary Supplement . 5287 , p. 28-28. 1 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Gender and power: Counsellors and their masters in Antiquity and medieval courtly romance
Bildhauer, B. 2004 In : Medium Aevum . 73 , 1 , p. 147-148. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

Childhood and adolescence in the German romances on Parzival and Lancelot: Early and later Middle Ages
Bildhauer, B. 2003 In : Medium Aevum . 72 , 2 , p. 358-359. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

The curse of Eve, the wound of the hero: Blood, gender and medieval literature
Bildhauer, B. 2003 In : Medium Aevum . 72 , 2 , p. 340-341. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

The voices of Mechthild of Magdeburg
Bildhauer, B. 2002 In : Medium Aevum . 71 , 2 , p. 363-364. 2 p.
Research output : Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review

 

CD-ROM Video Plus German: Intermediate to Advanced German Comprehension
Bildhauer, B. M. E. & Burnage, G. (ed.) 2001
Research output : Other contribution

Wer beherrscht die deutsche Sprache? Recht, Sprache und Autorität nach der Rechtschreibreform 1996
Rivers, J. , Young, C. & Bildhauer, B. M. E. 2001
Research output : Other contribution