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The Spirit of Medieval English Popular Romance
Ad Putter and Jane Gilbert
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The Spirit of Medieval English Popular Romance
Ad Putter and Jane Gilbert
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Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library
Series Editors
Charlotte Brewer, Hertford College, Oxford, and N. H. Keeble, University of Stirling
Longman Medieval and Renaissance Library is a major series of critical introductions to key literary and cultural topics from Old English to the late seventeenth century. Volumes draw on original research and are sensitive to current critical concerns, but they are designed particularly to meet the needs of students and the general reader. The key feature is the breadth and variety of coverage, providing authoritative studies on a wide range of subjects from individual authors and works to genres, periods and contexts.
The Spirit of Medieval English Popular Romance
Ad Putter and Jane Gilbert
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.
Ad Putter is Lecturer in the English Department of the University of Bristol, and also works for the Centre for Medieval Studies at Bristol. He is author of various books and articles on medieval literature, including An Introduction to the Gawain poet also published by Longman.
Jane Gilbert is Lecturer in French at University College London. She is the author of several articles on medieval French and English romances.
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Preface
Notes on references and abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1 Lai le Freine: The Female Foundling and the Prolem of Romance Genre

Chapter 2 Lanval to Sir Laurifal: A Story Becomes Popular

Chapter 3 The Tale ef Gamelyn: Class Warfare and the Embarrassments of Genre

Chhapter 4 The Romance Hypothetical: Lordship and the Saracens in Sir Isumbras

Chapter 5 Violence, Narrative and Proper Name: Sir Degare, 'The Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkney', and the Folie Tristan d'OxfOrd

Chapter 6 Loving Beasts: The Romance of William ef Paleme

Chapter 7: The Narrative Logic of Emare

Chapter 8 Tiie Seege ef Troye: 'ff or wham was wakened al this wo'?

Chapter 9 Romance and Its Discontents in Eger and Grime

Chapter 10 From Beyond the Grave: Darkness at Noon in Tiie Awnfyrs qff Arthure

Chapter 11 Gender, Oaths and Ambiguity in Sir Tristrem and Beroul's Roman de Tristan

Chapter 12 Sir Difeo: Madness and Gender

bliography
Notes on contributors
Index

Ad Putter is Lecturer in the English Department of the University of Bristol, and also works for the Centre for Medieval Studies at Bristol. He is author of various books and articles on medieval literature, including An Introduction to the Gawain poet also published by Longman.

Jane Gilbert is Lecturer in French at University College London. She is the author of several articles on medieval French and English romances.