Product Description

Scholarship on Middle English romance has done little to access the textual and bibliographical continuity of this remarkable literary tradition into the sixteenth century and its impact on Elizabethan works. And to an even greater extent Spenserian scholarship has failed to investigate the significant and complex debts which The Faerie Queene owes to medieval native verse romance and Malorys Le Morte Darthur. This book accordingly offers the first comprehensive study of the impact of Middle English romance on The Faerie Queene. It employs the concept of memory, in which both Middle English romance writers and Spenser show specific interest, to build a sense of the thematic, generic, and cultural complexity of the native romance tradition. The memorial character of Middle English romance resides in its intertextuality and its frequent presentation of its narrative events as historical and consequently the basis for a favourable sense of local or even national identity. Spensers memories of native romance involve a more troubled engagement with that tradition of providential national history as well as an endeavour to see in pre-Reformation romance a prophetic and objective authority for Protestant belief.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2073361 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 264 pages

Review
We are all in Dr King's debt for this scholarly, ground-breaking book English Studies King concludes by encouraging future readings of The Faerie Queene which consider native romance. His book demonstrates the fruitfulness of such investigations and will certainly inspire further scholarship. I can only hope that whoever continues in King's footsteps will do so with the same amount of sophistication, skill and sensitivity Notes and Queries The book is remarkable for its scope and erudition Notes and Queries

Review
We are all in Dr King's debt for this scholarly, ground-breaking book (English Studies )

King concludes by encouraging future readings of The Faerie Queene which consider native romance. His book demonstrates the fruitfulness of such investigations and will certainly inspire further scholarship. I can only hope that whoever continues in King's footsteps will do so with the same amount of sophistication, skill and sensitivity (Notes and Queries )

The book is remarkable for its scope and erudition (Notes and Queries )

Notes and Queries
"The book is remarkable for its scope and erudition"

Customer Reviews

A compelling and important work.
As one who thought that English Literature did not start until Margaret Atwood lifted her pen, Dr. King's magnum opus has opened my eyes to the genius that is Spencer.

Simply staggering. Masterfully written, brilliantly argued.
A must for any who have tried their hands at middle english romance, and think they might dare to try again.