Literary studies: general Books

Book SynopsisThe powerful voice of major Italian medieval woman mystic, translated with commentary.Angela of Foligno is considered by many as the greatest mystical voice among Italian medieval women. She devoted herself to a relentless pursuit of God when as a middle-aged woman she lost her mother, husband and children; illiterate herself, she dictated her experiences to her confessor, who transcribed her words into Latin as the Memorial. In a direct and vigorous style, it tells of her suffering, visions, joy, identification with Christ, and finally her mystical union with God. However, her book has always been viewed with suspicion, indeed even bordering on heresy; her spirituality goes beyond conventional language as well as beyond accepted doctrines and modes of prayer. This annotated selection from the Memorial is preceded by a biographical introduction which places Angela's text in its historical, cultural, and spiritual context; the accompanying interpretive essay which follows compares Angela's experience with that of twentieth-century Christian feminist theologians. The volume is completed with an annotated bibliography. CRISTINA MAZZONI is Professor and Chair, Department of Romance Languagesand Linguistics at the University of Vermont.

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Book SynopsisEnglish devotional poets of 17c set in a wider European and Catholic context.This book offers a comprehensive account of the literary and theological background to English devotional poetry of the seventeenth century, concentrating on four major poets, Donne, Herbert, Vaughan and Crashaw. It challenges both Protestant poetics and postmodernism, the prevailing critical approaches to Renaissance literature: by reading the poetry in the light of continental Catholic devotional literature and theology, the author demonstrates that religious poetry in seventeenth-century England was not rigidly or exclusively Protestant in its doctrinal and liturgical orientation. He argues that poetic genres and devices that have been ascribed to strict Reformation influence are equally prominent in the Catholic poetry of Spain and France; he also shows that postmodernist anxiety about subjective identity and the capacity of language for signification is in fact a concern of such landmark Christian thinkers as Augustine and Aquinas, and appears in devotional poetry in the Christian tradition. Professor R.V. YOUNGteaches at North Carolina State University.Trade ReviewHighly intelligent and passionately written book. JOURNAL OF ENGLISH & GERMANIC PHILOLOGY Will send readers back with increased understanding to English devotional poetry. LITERATURE AND THEOLOGY Judicious, finely discriminating, and broadly informed by interdisciplinary excursions into theology and art. SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NEWS A welcome addition to scholarship. MLR A vigorous revision of the seventeenth-century religious lyric, and makes stimulating reading. An innovative and scholarly study that is likely to redraw the map for reading the seventeenth-century religious lyric. YEAR'S WORK IN ENGLISH STUDIES The best general book on England's great devotional poets [to be published] since the 1950's. * RELIGION & LITERATURE *Table of ContentsThe presence of grace in 17th-century poetry; meditation and sacrament in 17th-century poetry; biblical poetics in the 17th century.

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Book SynopsisJudgement Day II presented in its manuscript context, with discussion of function of penitential verse.Critical editions of the Old English poem Judgement Day II, its Latin source, Bede's poem De die iudicii, and the homily in Oxford, Bodleian, Hatton 113, which is based on the vernacular poem, are offered in this volume: Judgement Day IIis thus presented in its manuscript context, highlighting its links with the poems found there, and casting new light on its interpretation. The editions are accompanied with translations, a commentaryon points of linguistic and literary interest, and a glossary. The introduction includes detailed descriptions of the manuscripts in which the works appear; the function of the poems as penitential verse; and a discussion ofeschatological thought in the the early middle ages, especially with regard to Bede. There are also sections on the language, style and metre of the Old English poem, and a full literary analysis. Professor GRAHAM D. CAIEis Head of the School of English and Scottish Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow.Table of ContentsPart 1 Introduction: the title of the poem; the manuscript; the context of "Judgement Day II" in MS C; the poems, the "Benedictine Office" and Wulfstan; description of Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hatton 113; comparison between the poetic and prose version; Bede's "De die iudicii"; description of British Library, Cotton Domitian A.i; "Judgement Day II" as a translation of "De die iudicii"; the language of "Judgement Day II"; poetic technique, style and metre; a literary analysis. Part 2 The text and translation: "Judgement Day II"; "Be domes doege" - the Hatton homily. Part 3 Commentary. Appendix: "De die iudicii" in British Library Cotton Domitian A.i.

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Book SynopsisStudies of the very earliest form of language which can be called English, and its later influence.East Anglia - the easternmost area of England - was probably home to the first-ever form of language which can be called English. East Anglian English has had a very considerable input into the formation of Standard English, and contributed importantly to the development of American English and (to a lesser extent) Southern Hemisphere Englishes; it has also experienced multilingualism on a remarkable scale. However, it has received little attention from linguistic scholars over the years, and this volume provides an overdue assessment. The articles, by leading scholars in the field, cover all aspects of the English of East Anglia from its beginnings to the present day; topics include place names, non-standard grammar, dialect phonology, dialect contact, language contact, and a host of other issues of descriptive, theoretical, historical and sociolinguistic interest and importance.Professor JACEK FISIAKteaches in the Department of English at the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland; Professor PETER TRUDGILL is Chair of English Linguistics at the University of Fribourg. Contributors: PETER TRUDGILL, JACEK FISIAK, KARL INGE SANDRED, GILLIS KRISTENSSON, LAURA WRIGHT, CLAIRE JONES, TERTU NEVALAINEN, HELENA RAUMOLIN-BRUNBERG, KEN LODGE, DAVID BRITAIN, PATRICIA POUSSATable of ContentsModern East Anglia as a Dialect Area - Peter Trudgill Old East Anglian: a Problem in Old English Dialectology - Jacek Fisiak East Anglian Place-Names: Sources of Lost Dialect - Karl Inge Sandred Language in Contact: Old East Saxon and East Anglian - Gillis Kristensson Sociolects in Fourteenth-Century London - Gillis Kristensson Some Morphological Features of the Norfolk Guild Certificates of 1388/9: An Exercise in Variation - Laura Wright Elaboration in Practice: The Use of English in Medieval East Anglian Medicine - Claire Jones Third-Person Singular Zero: African-American English, East Anglian Dialects and Spanish Persecution in the Low Countries - Peter Trudgill Chapters in the Social History of East Anglian English: The Case of the Third-Person Singular (with Helena Raumolin-Brunberg and Peter Trudgill)Peter Trudgill) - Terttu Nevalainen Chapters in the Social History of East Anglian English: The Case of the Third-Person Singular (with Terttu Nevalainen and Helena Raumolin-Brunberg)Raumolin-Brunberg) - Peter Trudgill Chapters in the Social History of East-Anglian English: The Case of the Third-Person Singular (with Peter Trudgill and Terttu Nevalainen)Nevalainen) - Helena Raumolin-Brunberg The Modern Reflexes of Some Middle English Vowel Contrasts in Norfolk and Norwich - K R Lodge Welcome to East Anglia: Two Major Dialect 'Boundaries' in the Fens - David Britain Syntactic Change in North-West Norfolk - Pat Poussa

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Book SynopsisLiterary analysis of the meanings inherent in the costumes of Chaucer's secular pilgrims, and his methods of characterisation through costume.Clothing and accessories in the middle ages functioned socially as status symbols, counted economically as portable wealth, and signified metaphorically the wearer's spiritual condition. Chaucer's costume descriptions suggest allof these connotations and more. This book presents the first sustained literary analysis of the meanings inherent in the costumes of Chaucer's secular pilgrims, illuminating the extent of their (non)conformity in their dress to fourteenth-century occupational, socio-political, and religious norms. The author discusses the significance of individual fabrics, dyes, accessories, garments, and assembled costumes, and explains technical details and specialist vocabularies for cloth-making, clothing, accessories and armor, drawing on a wealth of contemporary evidence including wills, household inventories, wardrobe accounts, manuscript illuminations and church decoration.LAURA F. HODGES has a doctorate from Rice University in medieval literature and an undergraduate degree in clothing and textiles from Auburn University; she has taught English literature for many years. As an independent scholar, she specialises in the semiotics of textiles and costume in literature.Trade ReviewProvide[s] modern readers with the contextual information needed for an understanding of the Canterbury Tales... a detailed discussion of the meaning and significance of the terms used to describe the clothing of Chaucer's secular pilgrims. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *Good to encounter a book that explores the subject widely and in detail... as a quarry of evidence, it is certainly rich and rewarding. * HISTORY *Synthesizes a wealth of material on dress... Evidence is presented from legal, funerary artistic and other literary sources; the main focus is on costume history and social practice... Scholars from many disciplines will welcome the suggestiveness and range of this substantial study. * TEXTILE HISTORY *This informative book is likely to prove indispensable for Chaucerians and other scholars with an interest in medieval characterisation and clothing. * ARTHURIANA *Table of ContentsIntroduction - Chaucer's costume rhetoric; costume rhetoric in the Knight's Portrait - Chaucer's every-knight and his "bismotered" "gypon"; Chaucer's squire - "embrouded was he"; "mottelee" - for the merchant no one knew; the Sergeant's misunderstood "medlee cote" and missing accessories; a hierarchy of blades and bags - the Franklin, Yeoman, Guildsman, Shipman, Miller, Reeve and the Pardoner; fabric as sign - the Yeoman's "grene" and the Shipman's "faldyng"; the Wife of Bath's costumes -reading the subtexts; costume rhetoric for the rising peasant class - the Miller, Knight Manque and the Plowman Miles Christi; conclusion - Chaucer the "conteor" - clother in good works.

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Book SynopsisGower's preoccupation with the authority of fathers (and of kings) employed to illustrate his relation to his text.Fathers and daughters are central to some of the most significant tales in Gower's poem. Using feminist and anthropological approaches, Bullon-Fernandez argues that father-daughter relationships, and the associated theme of incestthat they sometimes suggest, enable Gower to examine authority relationships in three interconnected spheres: family, state, and text. She suggests that Gower perceived the relationships between kings and subjects and between authors and texts as similar to paternal relationships with a daughter; and further, that Gower regarded the law of exogamy as at the core of patriarchal society. As a father may not commit incest with his daughter and a king may notabuse his authority, so the writer (as in "Pygmaleon and the Statue"), must curb his desire to control the meaning of his creation. Thus, even as he is concerned with the limits of authority in the familial, political and textualrealms, Gower also exposes the inherently transgressive nature of such authority. Dr MARIA BULLON-FERNANDEZ is Assistant Professor of Middle English literature, Seattle University.Trade ReviewClose and nuanced analyses ofer readings that are subtle, often surprising, and always convincing. The work's greatest strength is its graceful incorporation of historical context and theoretical approach. * MEDIEVAL FEMINIST FORUM *Table of ContentsFathers and daughters - defining authority; redeeming daughters - Thaise, Peronelle and Constance; fathers as husbands, husbands as fathers - supplantation and exchange in the "Tale of the False Bachelor" and the "Tale of Albinus and Rosemund"; limiting authority - Leucothoe, Virginia and Canace; textual fathers and tectual daughters - the "Tale of Rosiphelee", the "Tale of Jephthah's Daughter" and "Pygmaleon and the Statue".

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Book SynopsisSeminal essays on one of the most crucial issues in Arthurian studies.For the past fifty years, debates about which text of Malory scholars and teachers should prefer have sparked much controversy: which is the most authentic or authoritative, Caxton, the Winchester version, or a mixture of both (asproposed by Vinaver)? The papers in this volume represent the most important contributions to the dialogue; previously published articles have been updated where relevant and new issues are presented in several original essays, while the introductions place the argument in its theoretical and historical contexts. Professor BONNIE WHEELER teaches at the Southern Methodist University; Professor MICHAEL SALDA teaches at the University of SouthernMississippi; Professor ROBERT KINDRICK teaches at the University of Montana. Contributors: MICHAEL N. SALDA, KEVIN GRIMM, SHUNICHI NOGUCHI, CHARLES MOORMAN, P.J.C. FIELD, WILLIAM MATTHEWS, ROBERT KINDRICK, HELEN COOPER, TOSHIYUKI TAKAMIYA, YUJI NAKAO, NORMAN BLAKETrade ReviewAn illuminating volume for any scholar with an interest in textual issues. * JOURNAL OF THE EARLY BOOK SOCIETY *Table of ContentsIntroduction - the debate on editing Malory's "Le Morte Darthur", Bonnie Wheeler and Michael N. Salda; Caxton and Chaucer - a re-view, the beseiged printer, a question of texts, William Matthews; desperately defending Winchester - arguments from the edge, Charles Moorman; the Winchester Malory, Shunichi Noguchi; Caxton's "Roman War", P.J.C. Field; Caxton edits the "Roman War Episode" - the chronicles of England and Caxton's Book V, Masako Takagi and Toshiyuki Takamiya; musings on the reviser of Book V in Caxton's Malory, Yuji Nakao; Caxton, Malory, and the "Noble Tale of King Arthur and the Emperor Lucius", Edward Donald Kennedy; Caxton at work - a reconsideration, N.F. Blake; opening up the Malory Manuscript, Helen Cooper; back to the past - editing Malory's "Le Morte Darthur", D. Thomas Hanks, Jr.; reading Malory's text aloud, Shunichi Noguchi; Malory's "Roman War Episode" - an argument for a parallel text, Meg Roland; on the attractions of the Malory incunable and the Malory manuscript, Sue Ellen Holbrook; afterword - the Winchester Malory manuscript - an attempted history, Paul Yeats-Edwards.

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Book SynopsisTreatment of and reference to the Song of Songs by a variety of authors including Spenser and Milton.Many English Renaissance texts offer readings of the Song of Songs, by both well-known authors, such as Shakespeare, and the long neglected (William Baldwin, Robert Aylett, Abiezer Coppe and Lawrence Clarkson). This new study looks at the different traditions they represent, and most notably the balance in the tension of the Song of Songs as oral and written, carnal and spiritual. The introduction presents a historical and theoretical discussion of Canticles, using a Rabbinic model for juxtaposing orality and textuality; the author goes on to argue that from the time of ancient Sumer through medieval England motifs found in the Song of Songs are simultaneously sexual and spiritualjust as they are likewise oral and textual. By attempting to recover oral approaches to any text, we encounter a series of forces that act to balance an open, oral, and sexual understanding of the erotic biblical text against a more closed, textual and spiritual reading. This balance is then traced through works by Baldwin, Spenser, Aylett, Coppe, Clarkson and Milton. NOAM FLINKER is currently Chairperson at the Department of English, University of Haifa.Trade ReviewAn extremely informative book that contains fascinating readings of little-known works - and the inter-textuality existing between them and a number of major texts - in the light of one of the most beautiful and elusive of the Hebrew scriptures... Mature and seasoned scholarship... important book. * SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NEWS *Impressive and wide-ranging... deftly explores the role of the Song of Songs in a series of English writers from William Baldwin to Milton, a role that has been often recognised but never given the extensive and nuanced treatment provided here. * YEAR'S WORK IN ENGLISH STUDIES *Table of ContentsWilliam Baldwin's "The Canticles, or Balades of Salomon" - the shaping of history, sexuality and subsequent English poetry; canticles, Baldwin and Spenser's "Amoretti"; canticles as erased convention in "Venus and Adonis"; the Spenserian canticles of Robert Aylett - the Protestant tradition continues; ranter sexual politics - canticles in the England of 1650; Adam's revisited rant with Eve; conclusion.

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Book Synopsis`The Index of Middle English Prose when completed will be a monumental achievement.' REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIESThis handlist indexes 82 manuscripts from twelve Midlands collections. The collections examined are diverse in origin: the cathedral libraries include Hereford and Worcester, whose collections include manuscripts in their possession continuously since the middle ages, and Gloucester, Lichfield, Peterborough and Southwell Minster, whose early libraries were largely dispersed at the dissolution or during the Civil War and whose present libraries are modern foundations. Also included are manuscripts on deposit in Record Offices in Gloucester and Leicester, the private collections on deposit in Nottingham University Library and manuscripts acquired by university or college libraries inthe twentieth century. Of note are several Wycliffite bibles, a number of sermon collections (including one not previously described), several works by Rolle, Hilton's Scale of Perfection, Chaucer's prose tales and the chronicle Brut.Dr VALERIE EDDEN is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English,University of Birmingham.Table of ContentsBirmingham, Oscott College; Gloucester cathedral library; Gloucester diocesan archives; Hereford cathedral library.

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Book Synopsis`The Index of Middle English Prose when completed will be a monumental achievement' REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIESArchbishop Laud was Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1629-1641, during which period he donated over twelve thousand manuscripts to the Bodleian Library. Only a small minority of these contain Middle English prose, but they cover a wide spectrum. Religious works include eight copies of the Wycliffite New Testament, one unrecorded by printed authorities, Wycliffite sermons, writings by Rolle and Hilton, Wimbledon and Lavynham, a unique collectionof Kentish dialect sermons, Disce Mori, and copies of many other popular anonymous treatises, some previously unnoted. Among the secular works are The Brut, The Canterbury Tales, Mandeville's Travels, De Re Militari, The Pilgrimage of the Life of the Manhood, writings by Fortescue, one unique, a heraldic treatise and two extensive compilations of medical texts.S. J. OGILVIE-THOMSON was formerly lecturer in language and medieval literature at St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

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Book SynopsisNew readings of Chaucer's dream visions, demonstrating his philosophical interests and learning.Chaucer's Philosophical Visions dramatically extends our sense of the fourteenth-century poet's philosophical interests and learning.Arguing that Chaucer was well acquainted with late medieval English Scholasticism, this book offers new readings of four of his earliest major poems, the dream visions: the Book of the Duchess, the House of Fame, the Parliament of Fowls, and the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women. By resituating these poems within the genre of the 'philosophical vision' (epitomized by Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy), these readings demonstrate Chaucer's interest in metaphysics, epistemology, and logic. Indeed, the only intellectual idiom available to Chaucer for exploring the way that the human mind works and the way that words work to express human reality was philosophical language, a language that Chaucer employed with the same technical acumen that he brought to other contemporary learned traditions, like astronomy and natural science. KATHRYN L. LYNCH is the Katharine Lee Bates and Sophie Chantal Hart Professor of English at Wellesley College, Massachusetts.Trade ReviewLynch's welcome book provides a careful reading of philosophical components in Chaucer... [and] offers its reader a Chaucer whose ideas stand up to close examination within the discourse of philosophy. SPECULUM A book of much value to students of the dream-poems. * MEDIUM AEVUM *Table of ContentsPhilosophical Chaucer; the "Book of the Duchess" as a philosophical vision - the argument of form; the "House of Fame" - truth claims, logic games; choice without preference, preference without choice in the "Parliament of Fowls"; the "Legend of Good Women" and the poetics of impossibility; intersections and implications.

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Book SynopsisWide-ranging survey of a neglected but significant early German version of the Lancelot legend.Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's Lanzelet, written around the turn of the thirteenth century, has long intrigued scholars both within and outside German studies: the only remaining trace of a Lancelot legend free of the adulterousaffair with Guinevere, it has been seen both as a precursor of classical Arthurian romance in Germany, and as a post-classical imitation, and attempts to interpret it have often run foul of its contradictions. This new study takesa fresh look at its place in the history of German romance, arguing that Ulrich placed his work firmly in the Arthurian romance tradition, adopting its familiar motifs, courtly vocabulary, and idealised knightly hero, but ratherthan presenting a hero who falls from grace (as did Chrétien), his Lanzelet is truly flawless from the outset. While the repeated episodes and adventures emphasise this aspect of Lancelot, they are also related in strikingly different narrative styles, which Dr McLelland suggests are not the result of authorial incompetence, but rather a source of entertainment, and a challenge to the genre as a whole. NICOLA McLELLAND is a Lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin.Trade ReviewMcLelland's grounbreaking study will prove to be a reliable reference as well as a teaching tool for years to come. * ARTHURIANA *A knowledgeable, lucid and interesting survey of the critical literature... the elaboration of her argument is devoted largely to ways in which she believes Ulrich's romance distinguishes itself from the contemporary 'classical' romance... McClelland's basic theses remain compelling and doubtless will help scholars read Ulrich's Lanzelet with new eyes. * JOURNAL OF ENGLISH AND GERMANIC PHILOLOGY *A solid work of scholarship and analysis that contributes significantly to the understanding of Lanzelet. * SPECULUM *Table of ContentsPart 1 The context and the problem: "Lanzelet" in context - source, author and the question of date, and reception; Ulrich and his narrator - prologue, reflections, appeals to the source and addresses to the audience; the problem of structure - variation within repetition. Part 2 Narrative style in "Lanzelet": defining style; the hero as a literary all-rounder - the first part of "Lanzelet"; a "post-classical" Arthurian hero - the second part of "Lanzelet". Part 3 The essence of a hero - a thematic analysis of "Lanzelet": "aventiure", "manheit" and "minne"; "gelucke", "heil", "soelde" and "wipsoelikheit"; conclusion.

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Book SynopsisA study of Chaucer's definition of tragedy - with special reference to Troilus -and its lasting influence on English dramatists.This book is concerned with the medieval idea of what constituted tragedy; it suggests that it was not a common term, and that those few who used the term did not always intend the same thing by it. Kelly believes that it was Chaucer's work which shaped notions of the genre, and places his achievement in critical and historical context. He begins by contrasting modern with medieval theoretical approaches to genres, then discusses Boccaccio's concept of tragedy before turning to Chaucer himself, exploring the ideas of tragedy prevalent in medieval England and their influence on Chaucer, and showing how Chaucer interpreted the term. Troilus and Criseyde is analysed specifically as a tragedy, with an account of its reception in modern times; for comparison, there is an analysis of how John Lydgate and Robert Henryson, two of Chaucer's imitators, understood and practiced tragedy. Professor HENRY ANSGAR KELLY teaches at UCLA.Table of ContentsPart 1 Background: Boccaccio's non-tragedies; tragedy an obsolete dramatic genre; examples of illustrious men. Part 2 Chaucer on tragedy: "tragedy" in late-medieval England; a narrative genre; the lessons of tragedy; from dystopia to eutopia. Part 3 The tragedy of Troilus: establishing prosperity; future contingents; outrageous fortune; terminal misery; Troilus in receivership. Part 4 Lydgate on tragedy: the dramatic tragedy of old Troy; contemporary narrative tragedies. Part 5 Lydgate's fallen princes: Bochas in English - the first phase; the criminous tragedies of Book 2; fallings off and beginnings anew; the long goodbye. Part 6 Henryson's tragedy of Cresseid: a singular tragedy; public promiscuity vs secret shame; Cresseid's ugly vision - an action dream; the disappearance of the gods and the complaint against Fortune; reasons and morals.

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of the development of Middle English portrayals of rape and ravishment in the context of shifting legal, theological and medical attitudes.This work explores and untangles the theme of rape, and its counterpart ravishment, in Anglo-French cultural tradition between the disintegration of the classical world and the Renaissance. Tracing debate and dialogue across intellectual and literary discourses, Corinne Saunders places Middle English literary portrayals of rape and ravishment in the context of shifting legal, theological and medical attitudes. The treatment of rape and ravishment is considered across a wide range of literary genres: hagiography, where female saints are repeatedly threatened with rape; legendary history, as in the stories of Lucretia and Helen; and romance, where acts of rape and ravishment challenge and shape chivalric order, and romance heroes are conceived through rape. Finally, the ways in which Malory and Chaucer write and rewrite rape and ravishment are examined.Dr CORINNE SAUNDERS is Lecturer in Medieval Studies, Department of English, University of Durham.Trade ReviewAnencyclopedic review. NOTES AND QUERIES A highly valuable and welcome contribution to this topic. MEDIEVAL REVIEW A rewarding volume. ARTHURIANA Important study. * SPECULUM *Table of ContentsIntroduction - the contemporary and the contemporaneous; secular law - rape and raptus; the church - canon law, theology and popular teaching; the threat of rape - saintly women; legendary history - Lucretia and Helen of Troy; Middle English romance - structures of possession; Malory's "Morte d'Arthur"; "A Dede of Men" - Chaucer's narrative of rape.

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Book SynopsisFifty-five catalogued manuscripts include major religious works and medical writing - on uroscopy, surgery, bloodletting and pestilence.Major religious works among the fifty-five manuscripts indexed in this handlist include a thirteenth-century copy of the Ancrene Riwle, Rolle's Forme of Living and the English translation of his Emendatio vitae, the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, Mirk's Festial, the Pilgrimage of the Soul, the Seven Points of True Love and Everlasting Wisdom and the apparently unique English translation of the Wycliffite Rosarium theologie. Medical writing is also well represented, with a number of extensive compilations which also contain medical recipes. Uroscopy texts include the Practica urinarum and the shorter and the longer versionsof Henry Daniel's Liber uricrisiarum; other important medical texts are the first book of Guy de Chauliac's Chirurgia magna, the shorter English version of John of Burgundy's treatise on pestilence and two versionsof the bloodletting treatise attributed to Henry of Winchester.KARI ANNE RAND SCHMIDT is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Oslo.

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Book SynopsisA history of women prophets from medieval saints to radical Protestants.Diane Watt sets aside the conventional hiatus between the medieval and early modern periods in her study of women's prophecy, following the female experience from medieval sainthood to radical Protestantism. The English women prophets and visionaries whose voices are recovered here all lived between the twelfth and the seventeenth centuries and claimed, through the medium of trances and eucharistic piety, to speak for God. They include Margery Kempe and the medieval visionaries, Elizabeth Barton (the Holy Maid of Kent), the Reformation martyr Anne Askew and other godly women described in John Foxe's Acts and Monuments, and Lady Eleanor Davies as an example of a woman prophetof the Civil War. The strategies women devised to be heard and read are exposed, showing that through prophecy they were often able to intervene in the religious and political discourse of the their times: the role of God's secretary gave them the opportunity to act and speak autonomously and publicly. Winner of Foster Watson Memorial Gift for 1998. Professor Diane Watt is Head of the School of English and Languages, University of Surrey.Trade ReviewConceptually elegant and sharply focused book... Not onlyly modern ground-breaking, but also accessible. * NOTES AND QUERIES *A powerful contribution in the general field of women's studies for thenew light it casts upon the tradition and perception of female prophecy. * RECUSANT HISTORY *Sheds light on a neglected aspect of late medieval and early modern English (literary) history, that of female prophetic writings. It...represents a significant contribution to the expanding field of female religious and textual practice... Excellent account. * ENGLISH *The best of the recent works on [its] subject. * SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL *

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Book SynopsisEpitomises what is best in Arthurian scholarship today. ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR ROMANISCHE PHILOLOGIEThis latest issue of Arthurian Literaturecontinues the tradition of the journal, combining critical studies with editions of primary Arthurian texts. Varied in their linguistic and chronological coverage, the articles dealwith major areas of Arthurian studies, from early French romance through late medieval English chronicle to contemporary fiction. Topics include Béroul's Tristan, Tristan de Nanteuil, the Anglo-Norman Brut, and the Morte, while an edition of the text of an extrait of Chrétien's Erec et Enide prepared by the eighteenth-century scholar La Curne de Sainte-Palaye offers important insights into both scholarship on Chretien, and our understanding of the Enlightenment. The volume is completed with an encyclopaedic treatment of Arthurian literature, art and film produced between 1995 and 1995, acting as an update to The New Arthurian Encyclopedia.Contributors: RICHARD ILLINGWORTH, JANE TAYLOR, CARLETON CARROLL, MARIA COLOMBO TIMELLI, RALUCA RADULESCU, JULIA MARVIN, NORRIS LACY, RAYMOND THOMPSON.Trade ReviewThe continuing vitality of the Arthurian tradition...is conveyed by all the articles in this impressive collection. * MEDIUM AEVUM *Table of ContentsThe Composition of the Tristran of Beroul - R N Illingworth The Lure of the Hybrid: Tristan de Nanteuil, Chanson de Geste Arthurien? - Jane H. M. Taylor L'Extrait du Roman d'Erec et Enide de la Curne de Sainte-Palaye (with Maria Colombo Timelli) - Carleton W Carroll L'Extrait du Roman d'Erec et Enide de la Curne de Sainte-Palaye (with Carleton W. Carroll) - Maria Colombo Timelli 'Talkyng of cronycles of kinges and of other polycyez': Fifteenth-Century Miscellanies, the Brut and the Readership of Le Morte Darthur of Le Morte Darthur - Raluca Radulescu Albine and Isabelle: Regicidal Queens and the Historical Imagination of the Anglo-Norman Prose Brut Chronicles - Julia Marvin Arthurian Literature, Art and Film, 1995-99 (with Raymond H. Thompson) - Norris J. Lacy Arthurian Literature, Art and Film, 1995-99 (with Norris J. Lacy) - Raymond H Thompson

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Book SynopsisFrom Horace Walpole to Angela Carter and the X-Files, new and familiar texts are reassessed, and common readings of Gothic themes and critical approaches to the genre are interrogated.The popularity of Gothic fictions, themes and films suggests that the genre is the norm as much as the dark underside of contemporary cultural production. Having endured for over two hundred years and settled onto numerous respectable courses of study, the meaning and value of the Gothic seems due for reappraisal. The essays in this volume, written by critics whose work over the last twenty years has considerably advanced the understanding of the Gothic genre, reexamine its literary, historical and cultural significance: from Horace Walpole to Angela Carter and the X-Files, new and familiar texts are reassessed; common readings of Gothic themes and critical approaches to the genreare interrogated: Gothic finds itself integrally involved in the production of a modern sense of the nation; it continues to haunt legal discourses; it underpins social mythologies and ideologies; informs histories of sexuality and identity; offers curious substance to notions of community and culture, and raises questions of ethics and postmodernism. Professor FRED BOTTING teaches in the Department of English at Keele University. Contributors: DAVID PUNTER, ELISABETH BRONFEN, E.J. CLERY, ROBERT MILES, JEAN-JACQUES LECERCLE, LESLIE J. MORAN, HELEN STODDART, FRED BOTTING, JERROLD E. HOGLE.Table of ContentsPreface - the Gothic, Fred Botting; Gothic - violence, trauma and the ethical, David Punter and Elisabeth Bronfen; Horace Walpole's "Mysterious Mother" and the impossibility of female desire, E.J. Clery; abjection, nationalism and the Gothic, Robert Miles; the kitten's nose - "Dracula" and witchcraft, Jean-Jacques Lecercle; law and the Gothic imagination, Leslie J. Moran; "The Passion of New Eve" and the cinema - hysteria, spectacle and masquerade, Helen Stoddart; candygothic, Fred Botting; the Gothic at our turn of the century - our culture of simulation and the return of the body, Jerrold E. Hogle.

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Book SynopsisThe meaning of pilgrimage and its development over 800 years, reflected in contemporary writings.Pilgrims are so frequently encountered in the pages of Middle English literature that it is easy to take their presence, and their significance, for granted. The pilgrimage motif is all too frequently simply accepted as a 'given'of medieval spirituality, its presence noted but its meaning seldom analysed. This study therefore asks several fundamental but hitherto largely ignored questions. What exactly did pilgrimage mean to medieval writers? How well didvarious understandings of pilgrimage combine within medieval spirituality? Who were the true pilgrims - those who travelled to saints' shrines, those who withdrew into the cloister or the anchorite's cell, or those who simply walked the path of daily obedience? In answering these questions, this wide-ranging survey of the origins and development of the pilgrim motif examines the development of Christian pilgrimage through the Bible, the writings of the Fathers, the influences of classical pagan religion and the impulses of popular devotion. It then traces the ways in which the resulting multiple meanings of pilgrimage were incorporated into medieval spirituality and literature, offering fresh perspectives on Old English poetry and prose together with Middle English texts such a the Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman, Pearl and the Book of Margery Kempe. Dr DEE DYAS is director of the Society for the Study of Medieval Christianity and Culture.Trade ReviewAn illuminating perspective. * MYSTICS QUARTERLY *Special credit for including Old English texts... a useful guide, a rich background study. * SPECULUM *A brilliant and richly-woven tapestry, full of insight and fresh ideas....It is not possible to do justice to the wide range and complexity of this exciting book in a brief review. * JNL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY *Table of ContentsSaved as 'revised contents'. Agreed with author' Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: The Origins and Early Development of Christian Pilgrimage A. Introduction: The Evolution of Pilgrimage 1. The Theology and Practice of Pilgrimage in the Bible 2. Concepts of Pilgrimage in the Early Church 3. The Development of Christian Holy Places 4. The Influence of the Cult of the Saints B. Conclusion: The Meanings of Pilgrimage Part II: The Exile and the Heavenly Home: Pilgrimage in Old English Literature C. Introduction: The Importance of Pilgrimage in Old English Literature 5. From Exile to Eternal Home: the Pilgrimage Motif in Old English Poetry and Prose 6. Place Pilgrimage in the Anglo-Saxon Church 7. The Wanderer and Seafarer Reconsidered D. Conclusion Part III: 'Parfit Pilgrymage' Or Merely 'Wanderyng by the Weye'? Literal and Metaphorical Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature E. Introduction: Continuity and Controversy 8. 'Place' Pilgrimage in the Later Middle Ages 9. Piers Plowman 10. The Canterbury Tales 11. Inner Journeys 12. Journeying to Jerusalem: An Overview of Literal and Metaphorical Pilgrimage in Middle English Literature Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisLatest update of essential Arthurian resource.A must for any self-respecting library. NOTES AND QUERIES A standard work of reference. ENGLISH STUDIESWith the appearance in 1999 of the very extensive interim volume covering the years 1978 to 1992, the Arthurian Bibliography became once more the critical source for Arthurian Scholars. This fourth volume of entries, culled in the main from BBSIA, covers the years 1993 to 1998 inclusive. The cumulative volumes of the Bibliography offer an exhaustive author and title database of the burgeoning scholarship in the field of Arthurian studies since the inception of the project at Hull over 30 years ago, reflecting the major advances in the field and the continuing relevance of Arthurian material in medieval studies.Trade ReviewIf one wants to scoop up nearly everything on an Arthurian subject, there is no substitute for the Arthurian Bibliography series. * ANGLIA *A must for any self-respecting library. * NOTES AND QUERIES *A standard work of reference. * ENGLISH STUDIES *

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Book SynopsisFemale mysticism, usually nourished in contemplative surroundings, in Blannbekin's case drew its inspiration from urban life; Weidhaus identifies her visions as 'street mysticism'.This early example of a spiritual diary incorporating the visions of a female mystic offers a glimpse of religious women's daily life and spiritual practices. Agnes Blannbekin was from an Austrian farming family, but as a Beguinelived an urban life: Ulrike Weithaus refers to her experiences as 'street mysticism'. Blannbekin's spiritual life revolved around the liturgical cycles of the church year, but also embraced the opportunities and vagaries of city life. Her visions comment on memorable events such as a popular bishop's visit to town during which people were trampled to death; the consequences of a rape committed by a priest; thefts of the Eucharist and the work of witches. Christ, for Blannbekin, is not only bridegroom, but also shopkeeper, apothecary, and axe-wielding soldier, and it was her vision of swallowing Christ's foreskin which led to the eventual censorship of her works. Life and Revelations has only recently been rediscovered by Austrian scholar Peter Dinzelbacher, and this translation is based on his critical edition.Trade ReviewScholars of women's spirituality will welcome this entrée to th etext of a lively, hitherto inaccessible author. * CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW *Table of ContentsThe life and revelations of the Viennese beguine Agnes Blannbekin; Spatiality and the sacred in Agnes Blannbekin's life and revelations; maps of the holy; the court as sacred space; the city as sacred space; women's ritual action and writings as sacred performance.

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Book SynopsisEssays on Milton's developing ideas on liberty, and his republicanism, as expressed in his writings over his lifetime.In his Second Defence of the English People (1654), reflecting on his career as a prose writer, prior to embarking on the composition of Paradise Lost, John Milton identified 'three varieties of liberty without whichcivilized life is scarcely possible, namely ecclesiastical liberty, domestic or personal liberty, and civil liberty'. In retrospect he was able to find in his earlier writings a systematic exposition of the grounds of freedom, and a commitment to expanding its domain through publication and polemic. Taking initiative from both the history of political thought and historicist aesthetics, the essays in this collection (which derive from the International Milton symposium at York) consider the conditions of liberty in Milton's writings, and the contested development of his republicanism, through his career as a civil servant and prose writer, through his great poems, to his posthumous reputation and the appropriation of his works; and they extend laterally to typologies of liberty, the realm of law, prosody, and religious faith and persecution.Winner of the 2002 Irene Samuel Prize for best composite work onMilton. The contributors are: THOMAS CORNS, JOHN CREASER, MARTIN DZELZAINIS, KATSUHIRO ENGETSU, STEPEHN FALLON, BARBARA LEWALSKI, JANEL MUELLER, CHRISTOPHER ORCHARD, GRAHAM PARRY, JOAD RAYMOND, JOHN RUMRICH, QUENTIN SKINNER, ANNE-JULIA ZWIERLEIN.GRAHAM PARRY is Professor of English, University of York; JOAD RAYMOND lectures in the School of English and American Studies, University of East Anglia.Trade Review[A] richly satisfying volume. * INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE CLASSICAL TRADITION *Winner of the Irene Samuel Prize from the Milton Society of America for the best composite volume of Milton studies published in 2002. Enriches and brings further nuance to our understanding of Milton as writer and politician. * SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL *A first-rate collection of studies....The quality of the book's essays is very high indeed; they deserve to be widely read and debated by scholars and students of Milton's England. * JNL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY *A volume of strong and engaging essays that are a revealing window on Milton studies in an international perspectives.... [It] should be of considerable value and interest to scholars and students of Milton and his times. * LITERATURE AND HISTORY *Table of ContentsJohn Milton and the Politics of Slavery - Quentin Skinner Milton before 'Lycidas' - Thomas Corns Prosody and Liberty in Milton and Marvell - John Creaser 'In These Western Parts of the Empire': Milton and Roman Law - Martin Dzelzainis The King is a Thing - Joad Raymond 'in time of warre ... our Language is all corrupt with military Tearms': The Politics of Martial Metaphors in Post-Regicide EnglandPost-Regicide England - Christopher Orchard Alexander More Reads Milton: Self-Representation and Anxiety in Milton's Defences - Stephen Fallon Stylometry and the Provenance of De doctrina christiana - John Rumrich The Figure and the Ground: Samson as a Hero of London Nonconformity, 1662-1667 - Janel Mueller The Publication of the King's Privacy: Paradise Regained and Of True Religion in Restoration England - Katsuhiro Engetsu 'To try, and teach the erring Soul': Milton's Last Seven Years - Barbara Lewalski Pandemonic Panoramas: Surveying Milton's 'vain empires' in the Long Eighteenth Century - Anne-Julia Zwierlein

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Book SynopsisEleven essays bring Arthurian studies into the 21st century, including film and black popular culture.Eleven essays by leading Arthurians lead off with an overview of the field suggesting directions that Arthurian studies must take to remain vital. Other essays contain innovative approaches, overviews of specific areas of Arthurian studies, and suggestions for new ways to approach Arthurian material; they range over Malory, Latin Arthurian literature, Gawain and the Green Knight, Merlin in the twenty-first century, Tennyson's Idylls, Arthur in African-American culture, current trends in criticism, Arthurian fiction, and Arthurian film. Contributors: ROBERT BLANCH, DEREK BREWER, P.J.C. FIELD, SIAN ECHARD, PETER GOODRICH, KEVIN HARTY, NORRIS J. LACY, BARBARATEPA LUPACK, DAVID STAINES, RAYMOND THOMPSON, JULIAN WASSERMAN, BONNIE WHEELER.Trade ReviewA fitting witness to witness to the state of Arthurian studies at the turn of the millenium. An essential summation of Arthurian scholarship [that] directs us towards the probable future of Arthurian studies. * ARTHURIANA *Table of ContentsArthurian Research in a New Century: Prospects and Projects - Norris J. Lacy Malory and His Audience - Peter J.C. Field The Paradoxes of Honour in Malory - Derek S Brewer 'Hic est Artur': Reading Latin and Reading Arthur - Sian Echard Judging Camelot: Change in Critical Perspectives in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [with Julian N. Wasserman] - Robert J Blanch Judging Camelot: Change in Critical Perspectives in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [with Robert J. Blanch] - Julian N Wasserman Tennyson's Guinevere and Her Idylls of the King - David Staines Darkness over Camelot: Enemies of the Arthurian Dream - Raymond H Thompson King Arthur and Black American Popular Culture - Barbara Tepa Lupack The Project of Arthurian Studies: Quondam et Futurus - Bonnie Wheeler 'Arthur? Arthur? Arthur?' - Where Exactly is the Cinematic Arthur to be Found? - Kevin J Harty Merlin in the Twenty-First Century - Peter H Goodrich

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Book SynopsisMost Old English literature was translated or adapted from Latin: what was translated, and when, reflects cultural development and the increasing respectability of English.Translation was central to Old English literature as we know it. Most Old English literature, in fact, was either translated or adapted from Latin sources, and this is the first full-length study of Anglo-Saxon translation as a cultural practice. This 'culture of translation' was characterised by changing attitudes towards English: at first a necessary evil, it can be seen developing increasing authority and sophistication. Translation's pedagogical function (already visible in Latin and Old English glosses) flourished in the centralizing translation programme of the ninth-century translator-king Alfred, and English translations of the Bible further confirmed the respectability ofEnglish, while Ælfric's late tenth-century translation theory transformed principles of Latin composition into a new and vigorous language for English preaching and teaching texts. The book will integrate the Anglo-Saxon period more fully into the longer history of English translation.ROBERT STANTON is Assistant Professor of English, Boston College, Massachusetts.Trade ReviewValuable book... Stanton's easy familiarity with a multitude of sources and his thorough knowledge of the patristic debates on translation, coupled with his exceedingly thorough and insightful translations, makes this book essential for scholars. MEDIEVAL REVIEW An important contribution to scholarship [that] raises questions about connections between culture and translation practice that anyone working in this field should consider. * SPECULUM *Table of ContentsInterpretation, pedagogy, and Anglo-Saxon glosses; King Alfred and Early English translation; bible translation and the anxiety of authority; Aelfric and the rhetoric of translation.

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Book SynopsisArticles on comedy in Arthurian romance - French, Dutch, Italian, Scottish and English.The texts analyzed underline the wide dissemination of the Arthurian story in medieval and post-medieval Europe, from Scotland to Italy, while the various analyses of the manifestations of comedy refute the notion of romance as ahumourless genre. Indeed, the comic treatment of conventional themes and motifs appears to be not only characteristic of later romance but an essential element of the genre from its beginnings and from its earliest development. Authors of Arthurian romance, from Chrétien de Troyes to Malory, writing in French, Italian, Middle Dutch, and Middle English, and the creators of an Irish prose-tale, all question the fundamental assumptions of romance and romancevalues through the medium of comedy. The theme of comedy in Arthurian romance has been developed from the orignal session at the Arthurian Congress in Toulouse. Contributors: ELIZABETH ARCHIBALD, FRANK BRANDSMA, CHRISTINE FERLAMPIN-ACHER, LINDA GOWANS, DONALD L. HOFFMAN, MARGOLEIN HOGENBIRK, NORRIS J. LACY, MARILYN LAWRENCE, BENEDICTE MILLAND-BOVE, PETER S. NOBLE, KAREN PRATT, ANGELICA RIEGER, ELIZABETH S. SKLAR, FRANCESCO ZAMBON.Table of ContentsComedy and Tragedy in Some Arthurian Recognition Scenes - Elizabeth Archibald Merveilleux et comique dans les romans arthuriens français (XIIe-Xve siècles) - Christine Ferlampin-Acher La bande dessinée virtuelle du lion d'Yvain. Sur le sens de l'humour de Chrétien de Troyes - Angelica Rieger Convention, Comedy and the Form of La Vengeance Raguidel - Norris J. Lacy Le Comique dans Les Merveilles de Rigomer et Hunbaut - Peter S Noble Humour in the Roman de Silence - Karen Pratt La pratique de la 'disconvenance' comique dans le Lancelot en prose: les mésaventures amoureuses de Guerrehet - Benedicte Milland-Bove Lancelot part 3 - Frank Brandsma Comic Functions of the Parrot as Minstrel in Le Chevalier du Papegau - Marilyn Lawrence Dinadan en Italie - Francesco Zambon A Comical Villain. Artur's seneschal in a section of the Middle Dutch Lancelot Compilation - Marjolein Hogenbirk Malory and the English Comic Tradition - Donald L Hoffman 'Laughyng and Smylyng': Comic Modalities in Malory's Tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake - Elizabeth S Sklar The Eachtra an Amadáin Mhóir as a Response to the Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes - L M Gowans

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Book SynopsisTwelve essays address a central concern of medieval romance, the matter of identity.Identity is a central concern of medieval romance. Here it is approached through essays on issues of origin and parentage, transformation and identity, and fundamental questions of what constitutes the human. The construction of knightly identity through education and testing is explored, and placed in relation to female identity; the significance of the motif of doubling is studied. Shifting perceptions of identities are traced through the histories of specific texts, and the identity of romance itself is the subject of several essays discussing ideas of genre (the overlap between romance and hagiography is a theme linking a number of articles in the collection). Medieval romanceis shown as a marketable commodity in the printed output of William Copland, and as an opportunity for literary experimentation in the work of John Metham. The texts discussed include: Chevalere Assigne, Sir Gowther, Sir Ysumbras, Beves of Hamtoun, Robert of Cisyle, the Fierabras romances, Breton lays, Thomas's Tristan and Marie de France's Eliduc. Contributors: W.A. DAVENPORT, JOANNE CHARBONNEAU, CORINNE SAUNDERS, AMANDA HOPKINS, MORGAN DICKSON, MARIANNE AILES, JUDITH WEISS, JOHN SIMONS, RHIANNON PURDIE, MALDWYN MILLS, A.S.G. EDWARDS, ROGER DALRYMPLE.Trade Review[Readers] will find a number of solid investigations that contribute to the field of Middle English studies as well as several comparative readings of a variety of interesting works.The collection is most useful to generalists in any field of medieval literature. * ARTHURIANA *Table of ContentsThe Matter of Identity in Medieval Romance - Abbreviation and the Education of the Hero in Chevalere Assigne - W A Davenport From Devil to Saint: Transformations in Sir Gowther - Joanne A Charbonneau Desire, Will and Intention in Sir Beves of Hamptoun - Corinne Saunders Female Vulnerability as Catalyst in the Middle English Breton Lays - Amanda Hopkins Female Doubling and Male Identity in Medieval Romance - Morgan Dickson Ganelon in the Middle English Fierabras Romances - Marianne Ailes Emperors and Antichrists: Reflections of Empire in Insular Narrative, 1130-1250 - Judith Weiss A Byzantine Identity for Robert of Cisyle - John Simons Generic Identity and the Origins of Sir Isumbras - Generic Titles in Bodleian Library MS Douce 261 and British Library MS Egerton 3132A - Maldwyn Mills William Copland and the Identity of Printed Middle English Romance - A S G Edwards Amoryus and Cleopes: John Metham's Metamorphosis of Chaucer and Ovid - Roger Dalrymple

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Book SynopsisFirst full-length study in English of the Middle Dutch Lancelot-Compilation, of great significance for Arthurian studies.The Book of Lancelot is a study of the highly intriguing Middle Dutch Lancelot Compilation, a collection of ten Arthurian verse romances, compiled around 1320. Although the compilation is one of the most important Middle Dutch works, and has important implications for Arthurian studies, it is not well-known outside the Low Countries. This monograph, the first full-length English study of the compilation, aims to bring it to a wider audience,analysing the Middle Dutch work and comparing it to French narrative cycles, Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, and Ulrich Füetrer's Buch der Abenteuer. The book consists of five chapters. The introductory chapter deals with the study of cyclicity, the literary context of the Lancelot Compilation, and the manuscript tradition. In the following three chapters the ten romances are studied one by one. Each analysis consists of two parts:a description of the compiler's source and a survey of his interventions. In the fifth and last chapter the Lancelot Compilation is characterized as a narrative cycle and compared with French, English and German cycles. The monograph concludes with an attempt to describe the essence of the compilation. BART BESAMUSCA is Associate Professor in the Department of Dutch at Utrecht University.Table of ContentsIntroduction; the core of the "Lancelot" compilation; romances before the "Queeste vanden Grale"; romances after the "Queeste vanden Grale"; the "Lancelot" compilation as a narrative cycle.

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Book SynopsisA reinterpretation of the place and significance of chivalric culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and what it says about contemporary attitudes to the medieval.Chivalry and Romance in Renaissance England offers a reinterpretation of the place and significance of chivalric culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth-century and explores the implications of this reconfigured interpretation for an understanding of the medieval generally. Received wisdom has it that both chivalric culture and the literature of chivalry - romances - were obsolete by the time of the Renaissance, an understanding epitomised by the figure of Don Quixote, the reader of chivalric fictions whose risible literary tastes render him absurd. By way of contrast, this study finds evidence for the continued vitality and relevance of chivalric values at all levels of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century society, from the court entertainments of Elizabeth I to the civic culture of London merchants and artisans. At the same time, it charts the process by which, throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the chivalric has been firstly exclusively identified with the medieval and then transformed into a virtual shorthand for 'pastness' generally. ALEX DAVIS is lecturer in English, University of St Andrews.Trade ReviewRefreshingly eclectic in its choice of discursive focus.... This book is highly recommended for anyone with research interests in any aspect of medievalism and the romance genre. * MEDIUM AEVUM vol. LXXIII 2004 *Table of Contents"Not Knowing their Parents" - reading chivalric romance; the progress of romance (I) - Kenilworth, 1575; castles in the air - Quixotic representations on the 17th-century stage; "Gentleman-Like Adventure" - duelling in the "life" of Lord Herbert of Cherbury; "The Lady Errant" - Katherine Philips as reader of romance; the progress of romance (II) - Kenilworth, chivalry and the Middle Ages; conclusion - the chronicle of wasted time.

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Book SynopsisA wide range of new scholarship on Chaucer's poetry.This collection of essays makes available a wide range of new scholarship on Chaucer's poetry. Opening essays address the issues of "Chaucerian representation" and "Chaucerian poetics", arguing for the multiplicity and complexityof what Chaucer "represents" and for the importance of his dual Anglo-French background in enabling him to articulate that complexity. Chaucer's use of Ovidian and Ciceronian sources and ideas is examined, and his pursuit of simplicity and suspicion of "delicacy"; the potent issues of sexuality and spirituality, and money and death (with Chaucer's own ending and his thoughts on last things) complete the collection. Contributors: DEREK BREWER, HELEN COOPER, PAUL DOWER, JOHN V. FLEMING, JOHN HILL, TRAUGOTT LAWLER, CELIA LEWIS, R. BARTON PALMER, WILLIAM PROVOST, JOHN PLUMMER, WILLIAM ROGERS.Trade ReviewA fascinating snapshot of contemporary scholarship. * MEDIUM AEVUM *The collection is worth reading and offers some papers that constitute an advancement in Chaucer studies. * ANGLIA *Table of ContentsIntroduction - Derek S Brewer I: Chaucerian Representation. II: Chaucerian Poetics - Helen Cooper The Best Line in Ovid and the Worst - John V. Fleming Delicacy vs. Truth: Defining Moral Heroism in the Canterbury Tales - Traugott Lawler Chaucer's Endings - William Provost 'Beth fructuous and that in litel space' The Engendering of Harry Bailly - John Plummer Thinking about Money in Chaucer's Shipman's Tale [with Paul Dower] - William E Rogers Thinking about Money in Chaucer's Shipman's Tale [with William E. Rogers] - Paul Dower Framing Fiction with Death: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and the Plague - Celia M Lewis Aristocratic Friendship in Troilus and Criseyde: Pandarus, Courtly Love and Ciceronian Brotherhood in Troy - John M Hill Chaucer's Legend of Good Women: The Narrator's Tale - R Barton Palmer

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Book SynopsisAn investigation of the depiction of warfare in contemporary writings, in both fictional narratives and factual accounts.War and combat were significant factors in the lives of all conditions of people during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; thousands of men, women and children prepared for, engaged in and suffered from the consequences of almost endemic armed conflict. However, while war and combat feature prominently in many of the forms of literature written at the time, the theme of warfare in some types of narrative source remains a relatively under-studied area. This book offers an investigation of the depiction of warfare in contemporary writings, in both fictional narratives and factual accounts, aiming to bridge the gap between the disciplines of literature and military history. Using both established sources and the latest research, the author examines how the application of what is now known about the practical and technological aspects of medieval warfare can aid us in our understanding of literature. She also demonstrates, via an investigation of a corpus of Old French chronicles, epics and romances, how the judicious study of sources that are not always considered reliable can, in turn, inform us about contemporary perceptions of, and attitudes towards, war and other forms of armed combat. Dr Catherine Hanley was formerly a Research Associate in the Department of French at the University of Sheffield; she is now a freelance editor and historicalnovelist.Trade ReviewHanley brings together historical and literary scholarship to cast new light on a score of Old French works of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. [The] book is well written, well organised and based on extensive reading. [...] I have no doubts that War and Combat will find itself into many scholarly libraries, and will serve many readers as a guide to the complexities of the medieval literature of war. * DE RE MILITARI *Very nicely produced...will be a most useful addition to the study of what is increasingly recognized as a major element of medieval life and literature. * FRENCH HISTORY *An ambitious project that should attract the attention of a wide range of specialists.. [The author] has avoided the pitfalls of many interdisciplinary works and produced a volume of sound scholarship. * YEAR'S WORK IN MODERN LANGUAGE STUDIES *This is a very useful, very complete, and trustworthy account of the topic, admirably inclusive and challenging. * SPECULUM *

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Book SynopsisFollowing the death of Elizabeth Siddal in 1862 and his settling in Chelsea, Rossetti entered on a period of his life -- charted in volume 3 -- that was marked by renewed activity as a painter and increased financial prosperity.The years 1868-1870 covered by volume 4 culminate in his return to writing poetry and the publication in June 1870 of his long-anticipated and widely-read Poems. However, despite the satisfaction that he could take from his standing as a painter and from the fact that he was about to establish himself as a poet, 1868-1870 were troubled years for Rossetti. Problems with his eyesight led him to give up painting for long periods, and to fear that, like his father before him, he would end his days blind. He consulted Sir William Bowman and other leading ophthalmologists, who eased his mind sufficiently for him to return to his easel. This was also the time when he declared his lovefor Jane Morris, the wife of his long-time friend and admirer William Morris. In his long, moving letters to Janey we come face to face with the satisfactions and frustrations of their relationship. The letters to Janey provide acontext for understanding the many paintings and drawings from this period for which she was the model, and for gauging the biographical origins of the sonnets, written at this time for the sequence, The House of Life, an early version of which was included in Poems.Probably the most rewarding letters in the volume concern the preparation of Poems. The letters deal at length with Rossetti's decision to have his poems typeset for distribution to friends,the exhumation of Elizabeth Siddal's coffin to recover the manuscript of his poems, his obsessive care over the physical appearance of the volume, especially the binding , and his efforts at "working the oracle," William Bell Scott's description of his methodically lining up sympathetic reviewers.As with all of Rossetti's correspondence, the letters in volume 4 are replete with pointed and sometimes humorous commentary on an array of people and events,ranging from Edward Burne-Jones's affair with "the Greek damzel," Mary Zambaco, and Frederick Sandys's appropriation of subjects from his pictures, to his unease over Swinburne's uncontrollable drunkenness, and his ominous hatredof Robert Buchanan, the author of the "Fleshly School" attack on his poetry in the Contemporary Review of October 1871, which became a major cause of the disastrous events of the years 1871-1872.Trade ReviewFredeman's magnificently edited, annotated, appendixed and indexed edition, which is also beautifully produced, is testimony to an immensely impressive editorial labour of love. [...] * . *Fredeman has reproduced, sourced and annotated every known letter by Rossetti, and provided appendices in which one seems to be reading the story of a whole generation.[...] * . *This is a magnificent work of scholarship, long overdue and to be warmly welcomed. In it, the story of these turbulent years in Rossetti's life is told again, not by a biographer recharging a well-known legend, but by an editor scrupulously sifting and reassessing small pieces of evidence. * TLS *

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Book SynopsisFollowing the death of Elizabeth Siddal in 1862 and his settling in Chelsea, Rossetti entered on a period of his life -- charted in volume 3 -- that was marked by renewed activity as a painter and increased financial prosperity.The years 1868-1870 covered by volume 4 culminate in his return to writing poetry and the publication in June 1870 of his long-anticipated and widely-read Poems. However, despite the satisfaction that he could take from his standing as a painter and from the fact that he was about to establish himself as a poet, 1868-1870 were troubled years for Rossetti. Problems with his eyesight led him to give up painting for long periods, and to fear that, like his father before him, he would end his days blind. He consulted Sir William Bowman and other leading ophthalmologists, who eased his mind sufficiently for him to return to his easel. This was also the time when he declared his lovefor Jane Morris, the wife of his long-time friend and admirer William Morris. In his long, moving letters to Janey we come face to face with the satisfactions and frustrations of their relationship. The letters to Janey provide acontext for understanding the many paintings and drawings from this period for which she was the model, and for gauging the biographical origins of the sonnets, written at this time for the sequence, The House of Life, an early version of which was included in Poems.Probably the most rewarding letters in the volume concern the preparation of Poems. The letters deal at length with Rossetti's decision to have his poems typeset for distribution to friends,the exhumation of Elizabeth Siddal's coffin to recover the manuscript of his poems, his obsessive care over the physical appearance of the volume, especially the binding , and his efforts at "working the oracle," William Bell Scott's description of his methodically lining up sympathetic reviewers.As with all of Rossetti's correspondence, the letters in volume 4 are replete with pointed and sometimes humorous commentary on an array of people and events, ranging from Edward Burne-Jones's affair with "the Greek damzel," Mary Zambaco, and Frederick Sandys's appropriation of subjects from his pictures, to his unease over Swinburne's uncontrollable drunkenness, and his ominous hatred of Robert Buchanan, the author of the "Fleshly School" attack on his poetry in the Contemporary Review of October 1871, which became a major cause of the disastrous events of the years 1871-1872.Trade ReviewThis masterful and monumental edition is of a kind that is already becoming visible only in the rear-view mirror as textual scholarship and scholarly editing make use of new digital media, but it is a fitting monument to the life's work of one of the great scholars of the twentieth century. * VICTORIAN POETRY *A highly significant addition to Pre-Raphaelite scholarship. * . *I should like to draw initial attention to the publication by D.S. Brewer of these three splendid volumes [4,5 and 6] .... Scholarship of this quality does not come cheap, but deserves to be supported by all who value it. [...] Rossetti's letters are those of a man fully engaged with whatever he undertook, and it is a great pleasure to salute these volumes from D.S. Brewer. * THE JOURNAL OF WILLIAM MORRIS STUDIES *Fredeman's magnificently edited, annotated, appendixed and indexed edition, which is also beautifully produced, is testimony to an immensely impressive editorial labour of love. [...] * . *Fredeman has reproduced, sourced and annotated every known letter by Rossetti, and provided appendices in which one seems to be reading the story of a whole generation.[...] * . *This is a magnificent work of scholarship, long overdue and to be warmly welcomed. In it, the story of these turbulent years in Rossetti's life is told again, not by a biographer recharging a well-known legend, but by an editor scrupulously sifting and reassessing small pieces of evidence. * TLS *

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Book SynopsisThe concept of the New Jerusalem, the City of God, as realised in architecture and literature, especially Pearl.This book investigates the concept of the New Jerusalem, the City of God, as an architectural ideal during the middle ages, and the way in which it is represented allegorically in patristic writings, liturgy, building, and later literature. The author begins by examining its conceptual foundations in such sources as the Hebrew Bible, Bede's exegesis, the religious philosophy of Plotinus, and Augustine's theology. She then explores the influence and the expression of the New Jerusalem in liturgy and architecture, using the twelfth-century remodelling of the Abbey Church of St-Denis and its dedication liturgy to show how the building serves as an eschatological and apocalyptic landscape. The chantry movement in late medieval England is situated in this context, and leads to a demonstration of the movement's associations with the highly-wrought poem Pearl and its companion poems; the book analyses Pearl as medieval architecture, offering fresh perspectives on its elaborate construction and historical context. ANN R. MEYER teaches in the Department of Literature, Claremont McKenna College.Trade ReviewWide-ranging and exhaustively researched. * SPECULUM *A well-researched and useful contribution to the study of medieval literary culture. * ARTHURIANA *

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Book SynopsisStudies of major Arthurian works and authors in Old French, Middle High German, Middle English, and of one important novel by C. S. Lewis.Arthurian Literature continues the policy of alternating themed issues and miscellanies. This varied collection includes studies of major Arthurian works and authors in Old French, Middle High German, Middle English, and ofone important novel by C.S. Lewis. A controversial textual crux in Chrétien's Yvain, debated vigorously by scholars in the late 1980s, is revisited, while the narrative function of clothing in Chrétien's romances comes under review. An enigmatic and linguistically difficult passage from Der jüngere Titurel is translated and discussed, and an article on Der arme Heinrich studies this pious tale in the context of its generic affiliations: while not strictly speaking an Arthurian romance, it deserves consideration here as a work of one of medieval Germany's most significant writers of Arthurian romance. There is discussion of Thomas Chestre's adoption of the lai as a vehicle for social criticism in his Middle English adaptation of Marie de France's Lanval; the evolution of Arthurian romance in medieval England is also the primary concern in a study of The Awntyrs off Arthure. The figure of Arthur himself is central to an examination of the Middle English Prose Brut, and the delicate political implications of Malory's Morte Darthur are explored. Finally, C.S. Lewis's transformation and use ofthe figures of Uther Pendragon and Merlin in That Hideous Strength is explored. Contributors: RICHARD BARBER, JANE DEWHURST, TAMAR DRUKKER, CYRIL EDWARDS, DINA HAZELL, DONALD KENNEDY, GERALD SEAMAN, KRISTA SUE-LO-TWU, JANINA P. TRAXLER, MONICA L. WRIGHT.Trade Review[Its] rich variety is no small part of the value of this work....Arthurian scholars in French, German and English will find something of value in this collection. It should be read by all interested in Arthur. * ARTHURIANA *Table of ContentsReassessing Chrétien's Elusive Vanz - Gerald Seaman Their Clothing Becomes Them: The Narrative Function of Clothing in Chrétien de Troyes - Monica L. Wright Generic Hybridity in Hartmann von Aue's Der Arme Heinrich - Jane Dewhurst The Grail Temple in Der jüngere Titurel [with Cyril Edwards] - Richard Barber The Grail Temple in Der jüngere Titurel [with Richard Barber] - Cyril Edwards The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne: Reliquary for Romance - Krista Sue-Lo Twu The Blinding of Gwennere: Thomas Chestre as Social Critic - Dinah Hazell Malory's Morte Darthur: A Politically Neutral English Adaptation of the Arthurian Story - Edward Donald Kennedy King, Crusader, Knight: The Composite Arthur of the Middle English Prose Brut - Tamar Drukker Pendragon, Merlin and Logos: The Undoing of Babel in That Hideous Strength - Janina P Traxler

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