Romance is a varied and fluid literary genre, notoriously difficult to define. This groundbreaking
Companion surveys the many permutations of romance throughout the ages.
- Considers the literary and historical development of the romance genre from its classical origins to the present day
- Incorporates discussion of the changing readership of romance and of romance’s special relation to women readers
- Comprises 30 essays written by leading authorities on different periods and sub-genres
- Challenges the idea that the appeal of romance is exclusively escapist
- Draws on a wide range of specific and influential literary examples
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgments ix
Notes on Contributors x
Introduction 1
1. Ancient Romance 10
Elizabeth Archibald
2. Insular Beginnings: Anglo-Norman Romance 26
Judith Weiss
3. The Popular English Metrical Romances 45
Derek Brewer
4. Arthurian Romance 65
W. R. J. Barron
5. Chaucer’s Romances 85
Corinne Saunders
6. Malory and the Early Prose Romances 104
Helen Cooper
7. Gendering Prose Romance in Renaissance England 121
Lori Humphrey Newcomb
8. Sidney and Spenser 140
Andrew King
9. Shakespeare’l“)
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