English Medieval Romance

English Medieval Romance

Author: William Raymond Johnston Barron

Publisher: Longman Publishing Group

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13:

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Starting with the European roots of romance, Dr Barron devotes the main body of his book to a detailed study of the English corpus. He discusses its rich variety of forms in the later Middle Ages, concluding that the English romances show their own conception of the romantic `mode'.


Performance and the Middle English Romance

Performance and the Middle English Romance

Author: Linda Marie Zaerr

Publisher: DS Brewer

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1843843234

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An examination of if and how medieval romance was performed, uniquely uniting the perspective of a scholar and practitioner. Although English medieval minstrels performed gestes, a genre closely related to romance, often playing the harp or the fiddle, the question of if, and how, Middle English romance was performed has been hotly debated. Here, the performance tradition is explored by combining textual, historical and musicological scholarship with practical experience from a noted musician. Using previously unrecognised evidence, the author reconstructs a realistic model of minstrel performance, showing how a simple melody can interact with the text, and vice versa. She argues that elements in Middle English romance which may seem simplistic or repetitive may in fact be incomplete, as missing an integral musical dimension; metrical irregularities, for example, may be relics of sophisticated rhythmic variation that make sense only with music. Overall, the study offers both a more accurate comprehension of minstrel performance, and a deeper appreciation of the romances themselves. Linda Marie Zaerr is Professor of Medieval Studies at Boise State University.


Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance

Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance

Author: Corinne J. Saunders

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1843842211

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"This study looks at a wide range of medieval Englisih romance texts, including the works of Chaucer and Malory, from a broad cultural perspective, to show that while they employ magic in order to create exotic, escapist worlds, they are also grounded in a sense of possibility, and reflect a complex web of inherited and current ideas." --Book Jacket.


The Spirit of Medieval English Popular Romance

The Spirit of Medieval English Popular Romance

Author: Ad Putter

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-06-06

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 1317885554

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The Middle English popular romances enjoyed a wide appeal in later medieval Britain, and even today students of medieval literature will encounter examples of the genre, such as Sir Orfeo, Sir Tristrem, and Sir Launfal. This collection of twelve specially commissioned essays is designed to meet the need for a stimulating guide to the genre. Each essay introduces one popular romance, setting it in its literary and historical contexts, and develops an original interpretation that reveals the possibilities that popular romances offer for modern literary criticism. A substantial introduction by the editors discusses the production and transmission of popular romances in the Middle Ages, and considers the modern reception of popular romance and the interpretative challenges offered by new theoretical approaches. Accessible to advanced students of English, this book is also of interest to those working in the field of medieval studies, comparative literature, and popular culture.


Romance and the Gentry in Late Medieval England

Romance and the Gentry in Late Medieval England

Author: Michael Johnston

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014-05

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0199679789

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showing that contrary to the commonly held view that romances are representative of the "popular culture" of their day, in fact such texts appealed primarily to the gentry, England's elite landowners who lacked titles of nobility.


Nine Medieval Romances of Magic

Nine Medieval Romances of Magic

Author: Marijane Osborn

Publisher: Broadview Press

Published: 2010-03-05

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1551119978

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In this book, Marijane Osborn translates into modern English nine lively medieval verse romances, in a form that both reflects the original and makes the romances inviting to a modern audience. All nine tales contain elements of magic: shapeshifters, powerful fairies, trees that are portals to another world, and enchanted clothing and armor. Many of the tales also feature powerful women characters, while others include representations of “Saracens.” The tales address issues of enduring interest and concern, and also address sexuality, agency, and identity formation in unexpected ways.


Landscape in Middle English Romance

Landscape in Middle English Romance

Author: Andrew M. Richmond

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-08-05

Total Pages: 542

ISBN-13: 1108913091

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Our current ecological crises compel us not only to understand how contemporary media shapes our conceptions of human relationships with the environment, but also to examine the historical genealogies of such perspectives. Written during the onset of the Little Ice Age in Britain, Middle English romances provide a fascinating window into the worldviews of popular vernacular literature (and its audiences) at the close of the Middle Ages. Andrew M. Richmond shows how literary conventions of romances shaped and were in turn influenced by contemporary perspectives on the natural world. These popular texts also reveal widespread concern regarding the damaging effects of human actions and climate change. The natural world was a constant presence in the writing, thoughts, and lives of the audiences and authors of medieval English romance – and these close readings reveal that our environmental concerns go back further in our history and culture than we think.


Boundaries in Medieval Romance

Boundaries in Medieval Romance

Author: Neil Cartlidge

Publisher: DS Brewer

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 9781843841555

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A wide-ranging collection on one of the most interesting features of medieval romance.


The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance

The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance

Author: Roberta L. Krueger

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2000-06-22

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 9780521556873

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This Companion presents fifteen original and engaging essays by leading scholars on one of the most influential genres of Western literature. Chapters describe the origins of early verse romance in twelfth-century French and Anglo-Norman courts and analyze the evolution of verse and prose romance in France, Germany, England, Italy, and Spain throughout the Middle Ages. The volume introduces a rich array of traditions and texts and offers fresh perspectives on the manuscript context of romance, the relationship of romance to other genres, popular romance in urban contexts, romance as mirror of familiar and social tensions, and the representation of courtly love, chivalry, 'other' worlds and gender roles. Together the essays demonstrate that European romances not only helped to promulgate the ideals of elite societies in formation, but also held those values up for questioning. An introduction, a chronology and a bibliography of texts and translations complete this lively, useful overview.