utilitarian-bricolage
The concept that the Middle Ages have never been fully reconstructed but rather patched up and adapted to meet the needs of successive periods, unlike the classical heritage which is restored and contemplated as an ideal.
1 chapter across 1 book
Travels in Hyperreality (1986)Umberto Eco
The chapter examines the enduring fascination with the Middle Ages, highlighting its foundational role in shaping modern Western identity, technology, and social structures. It contrasts romanticized and scholarly approaches to medievalism, emphasizing the continuous cultural reinterpretation and bricolage of medieval themes rather than a static reconstruction. Eco proposes a typology of ten distinct visions of the Middle Ages, urging clarity about which medieval narrative is being engaged to understand its cultural and ideological implications.