Autumntide of the Middle Ages

One of the most perceptive and influential analyses of the late medieval period.

Johan Huizinga was the most renowned Dutch historian of the twentieth century, and his work ranged from medieval art to mechanization in modern America. His influential book Autumntide of the Middle Ages is still considered one of the most perceptive and influential analyses of the late medieval period. Its wide-ranging discussion of the ritual, formalism, and spirituality of medieval society makes it a classic study of life, culture, and thought in fourteenth and fifteenth century France and the Low Countries.

One of the great merits of Webb’s new translation is that, for the first time, English readers get to encounter this lyrical Huizinga in all his splendor. […] Webb’s new translation is the first English rendition of Autumntide that comes equipped with a scholarly apparatus, as well as a plethora of high-quality image reproductions of the various artworks, sites, and objects relevant to Huizinga’s text. [...] these images alone make this latest translation of Huizinga’s masterpiece a must-have. Indeed, one might be tempted to call it a coffee-table book were it not for the sparkling prose of its author (and translator), which vies with the gorgeous images adorning its every page. – Birger Vanwesenbeeck, Los Angeles Review of Books.

The translator has captured the poetic qualities of Huizinga’s authorial voice without sacrificing the readability of the text. (…) The result is a version of the text that captures Huizinga’s original voice better than either of the two previous English editions. […] The edition is gorgeous – solidly bound with thick paper, and with high-quality illustrations of most, if not all, the works of art Huizinga mentions in his text, plus others. At the same time, the edition has been produced to a high scholarly standard. It includes all of Huizinga’s original prefaces, notes, timeline, and a reconstructed bibliography of works cited by the author. – Benjamin Kaplan, the low countries.

The translator, Diane Webb, won a prize in 2005 for her translations of other Dutch writings. She deserves another for this one. Having ‘conscientiously’ (her word) averted her gaze from earlier English translations, she has made her own terms with, on one hand, shifting conventions in English, and, on the other, with idiosyncrasies in Huizinga’s prose (he can change tenses four times in one sentence). She gives poetry both in its original languages and in English translation. With few exceptions, a reader forgets that this is a translation at all.