Introducing John Ganim's Theatricality, Medievalism, and Orientalism

Abstract

The following introduction provides a personal and critical backdrop for a cluster of five essays that celebrate the pedagogical and scholarly career of Dr. John Ganim following his recent retirement from the University of California, Riverside. By way of a brief review of Ganim's Chaucerian Theatricality and Medievalism and Orientalism, this introduction highlights the foundational arguments of Ganim's book-length studies to provide prefatory context for the essays that follow from the cluster's contributing authors: Stephanie Trigg (University of Melbourne), Louise D'Arcens (Macquarie University), Seth Lerer (University of California, San Diego), Andrea Denny-Brown (University of California, Riverside), and Shayne Legassie (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill).