Romance is a varied and fluid literary genre, notoriously difficult to define. This groundbreaking Companion surveys the many permutations of romance throughout the ages. Comprising 30 essays written by leading authorities in the field, it considers the historical and literary development of the genre from its classical origins to the present day. The focus is on English literature, although this is placed within the larger context of perceptions of romance. The book incorporates discussion of the changing readership of romance, particularly romance's special relation to women readers. It challenges the idea that the appeal of romance is exclusively escapist, drawing on a wide range of specific and influential literary examples.
The Companion is suitable for general readers and for those beginning their study of literature, as well as for readers seeking more specialized information on the issue of romance or on the individual types of writing, writers, and works considered.
Contributors to this volume:
Elizabeth Archibald, W. R. J. Barron, Derek Brewer, Helen Cooper, Richard Cronin, David Fairer, Robert Fraser, David Fuller, Jerrold E. Hogle, Kathryn Hume, Susan Jones, Andrew King, Edward Larrissy, Richard Mathews, Ulrika Maude, Clare Morgan, Lori Humphrey Newcomb, Francis O'Gorman, Michael O'Neill, Leonée Ormond, Lynne Pearce, Fiona Price, Clive Probyn, Fiona Robertson, Andrew Sanders, Corinne Saunders, John Simons, Raymond H. Thompson, Lisa Vargo, Judith Weiss
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"Acknowledging the difficulty of defining "romance," Saunders and the contributors collectively produce a volume that offers a more comprehensive survey of the literature--including its historical, national, and generic varieties--than have previous standard works on the subject...Some of the essays--e.g., Helen Cooper's "Malory and the Early Prose Romances" and Richard Cronin's "Victorian Romance: Medievalism"--are exemplary in the quality of their writing, scholarship, and critical perception...Highly recommended."
Choice
"... It would be worth acquiring for an academic humanities collection and, from my own experience, would be particulary useful for English literature students at undergraduate and postgraduate level."
Reference Review
Reihe
Auflage
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Zielgruppe
Für Beruf und Forschung
students of English literature or comparative literature, general readers
Produkt-Hinweis
Broschur/Paperback
Klebebindung
Maße
Höhe: 244 mm
Breite: 172 mm
Dicke: 45 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-4051-6727-7 (9781405167277)
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Corinne Saunders is a Reader in Medieval Literature at the University of Durham. Her previous publications include The Forest of Medieval Romance (1993), Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England (2001) and Chaucer (2001) in the Blackwell Guides to Criticism series.
List of Illustrations.
Acknowledgements.
Notes on Contributors.
Introduction.
1. Ancient Romance. (Elizabeth Archibald).
2. Insular Beginnings: Anglo-Norman Romance. (Judith Weiss).
3. The Popular English Metrical Romances. Derek Brewer (University of Cambridge).
4. Arthurian Romance. (W. R. J. Barron).
5. Chaucer's Romances. (Corinne Saunders).
6. Malory and the Early Prose Romances. (Helen Cooper).
7. Gendering Prose Romance in Renaissance England. (Lori Humphrey Newcomb).
8. Sidney and Spenser. (Andrew King).
9. Shakespeare's Romances. (David Fuller).
10. Chapbooks and Penny Histories. (John Simons).
11. The Faerie Queene and Eighteenth-Century Spenserianism. (David Fairer).
12. "Gothic" Romance: Its Origins and Cultural Functions. (Jerrold E. Hogle).
13. Women's Gothic Romance: Writers, Readers, and the Pleasures of the Form. (Lisa Vargo).
14. Paradise and Cotton-mill: Re-reading Eighteenth-Century Romance. (Clive Probyn).
15. "Inconsistent Rhapsodies". Samuel Richardson and the Politics of Romance. (Fiona Price).
16. Romance and the Romantic Novel: Sir Walter Scott. (Fiona Robertson).
17. Poetry of the Romantic Period: Coleridge and Keats. (Michael O'Neill).
18. Victorian Romance: Tennyson. (Leonée Ormond).
19. Victorian Romance. (Richard Cronin).
20. Romance and Victorian Autobiography. Magaret Oliphant, Edmund Grosse and John Ruskin's 'needle to the north'. (Francis O'Gorman).
21. Victorian Romance: Romance and Mystery. (Andrew Sanders).
22. Nineteenth-Century Adventure and Fantasy. (James Morier, George Meredith, Lewis Carroll and Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Fraser).
23. Into the Twentieth-Century: Imperial Romance from Haggard to Buchan. (Susan Jones).
24. America and Romance. (Ulrika Maude).
25. Myth, Legend and Romance in Yeats, Pound and Eliot. (Edward Larrissy).
26. Twentieth-Century Arthurian Romance. (Raymond H. Thompson).
27. Romance in Fantasy Through the Twentieth Century. (Richard Mathews).
28. Quest Romance in Science Fiction. (Kathryn Hume).
29. Between Worlds. Iris Murdoch, A. S. Byatt and Romance. (Clare Morgan).
30. Popular Romance and its Readers. (Lynne Pearce).
Epilogue: Into the Twenty-First Century. (Corinne J. Saunders).
Index.
