Heroes and Anti-Heroes in Medieval Romance
Edited by Neil Cartlidge
Details
First Published: 19 Apr 2012
$90.00
13 Digit ISBN: 9781843843047
Pages: 244
Size: 23.4 x 15.6
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: D.S.Brewer
Series: Studies in Medieval Romance
Subject: Medieval Literature
BIC Class: DSBB
Details updated on 27 Nov 2011
Medieval romances so insistently celebrate the triumphs of heroes and the discomfiture of villains that they discourage recognition of just how morally ambiguous, antisocial or even downright sinister their protagonists can be, and, correspondingly, of just how admirable or impressive their defeated opponents often are. This tension between the heroic and the antiheroic makes a major contribution to the dramatic complexity of medieval romance, but it is not an aspect of the genre that has been frequently discussed up. Focusing on fourteen distinct characters and character-types in medieval narrative, this book attempts to illustrate the range of different ways in which the imaginative power and appeal of romance-texts often depends on contradictions implicit in the very ideal of heroism.
Dr Neil Cartlidge is Lecturer in English at the University of Durham.
Contributors: Neil Cartlidge, Penny Eley, David Ashurst, Meg Lamont, Laura Ashe, Judith Weiss, Gareth Griffith, Kate McClune, Nancy Mason Bradbury, Ad Putter, Robert Rouse, Siobhain Bly Calkin, James Wade, Stephanie Vierick Gibbs Kamath
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Turnus
3 Alexander the Great
4 Hengist
5 Harold Godwineson
6 Mordred
7 Merlin
8 Gawain
9 Gamelyn
10 Ralph the Collier
11 The Antiheroic Heart
12 Crusaders
13 Saracens
14 Ungallant Knights
15 Sons of Devils
13 Digit ISBN: 9781843843047
Pages: 244
Size: 23.4 x 15.6
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: D.S.Brewer
Series: Studies in Medieval Romance
Subject: Medieval Literature
BIC Class: DSBB
Details updated on 27 Nov 2011
Medieval romances so insistently celebrate the triumphs of heroes and the discomfiture of villains that they discourage recognition of just how morally ambiguous, antisocial or even downright sinister their protagonists can be, and, correspondingly, of just how admirable or impressive their defeated opponents often are. This tension between the heroic and the antiheroic makes a major contribution to the dramatic complexity of medieval romance, but it is not an aspect of the genre that has been frequently discussed up. Focusing on fourteen distinct characters and character-types in medieval narrative, this book attempts to illustrate the range of different ways in which the imaginative power and appeal of romance-texts often depends on contradictions implicit in the very ideal of heroism.
Dr Neil Cartlidge is Lecturer in English at the University of Durham.
Contributors: Neil Cartlidge, Penny Eley, David Ashurst, Meg Lamont, Laura Ashe, Judith Weiss, Gareth Griffith, Kate McClune, Nancy Mason Bradbury, Ad Putter, Robert Rouse, Siobhain Bly Calkin, James Wade, Stephanie Vierick Gibbs Kamath
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Turnus
3 Alexander the Great
4 Hengist
5 Harold Godwineson
6 Mordred
7 Merlin
8 Gawain
9 Gamelyn
10 Ralph the Collier
11 The Antiheroic Heart
12 Crusaders
13 Saracens
14 Ungallant Knights
15 Sons of Devils
