The Romance of the Middle Ages - Softcover

Perkins, Nicholas; Wiggin, Alison

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1851242953 ISBN 13: 9781851242955

Publisher: The Bodleian Library, 2012

Synopsis

With tales ranging from King Arthurs Round Table to Alexander the Greats journeys in the Far East, romance was the most fertile narrative form of the Middle Ages. This book presents treasures from the Bodleian Library to introduce the literary genre of romance and the manuscripts that preserve its texts. The authors also discuss later responses to the tradition: Pre-Raphaelites aesthetic appreciation, the enthusiasm of Sir Walter Scott and CS Lewis and the affectionate mockery found in Cervantes and Monty Python.

About this title

Review:

"Among many marvelous reasons for renown, Oxford's Bodleian Library contains one of the world's most significant collections of medieval romance manuscripts and printed editions. From January to May 2012, this provided the library's featured exhibition, allowing the public to explore this extraordinary collection. Although the exhibition has since closed, the authors provide readers with a stimulating journey through the subject that will foster interest and inclination to pursue study of it beyond the exhibition and the book."
-- (10/01/2012)

"Nicholas Perkins and Alison Wiggins are to be congratulated for this illuminating introduction to the field of medieval romance. . . . This lushly illustrated volume seeks to convey the 'wonder and pleasure' of the Bodleian's rich collection. . . . While the book is designed as an introduction to the world of medieval romance for the interested nonacademic reader, such is the scholarly integrity of the work that it could also be prescribed as an introduction to romance for an undergraduate class. . . . A highly recommended read."--Arthuriana-- (07/16/2013)

"An altogether delightful book. The authors have a gift for the telling detail, and for smuggling in the unexpected. It is hard to imagine a book that does its job, of introducing medieval romance and its afterlife to the general reader, more perfectly."

--Derek Pearsall, University of York

"Evangelicals and literary critics have looked sternly askance at medieval romance for about six hundred years. Entirely undaunted, medieval romances pass insouciantly across borders of time, geography, social class, and gender with their passports of pleasure. Nicholas Perkins and Alison Wiggins here allow us to join those journeys of romance. Their lightly worn, precise scholarship takes us inside the books of these marvelous stories. This is a gorgeous, utterly delightful book."

--James Simpson, Harvard University

"This book is at once an informative and lively introduction to all aspects of romance--medieval and modern, its writers and readers, in manuscript and print--and a treasure trove of some of the Bodleian's visually most remarkable holdings."--Helen Cooper, Cambridge University

--Helen Cooper, Cambridge University

"A richly woven tapestry of image and text. A great resource and a wonderful read."

--Simon Armitage

"A handsome little volume that manages that rare balancing act between academic rigour and popular appeal. . . . A rewarding, entertaining but also stimulating volume, the fruit of a collaboration that has found the perfect balance between the thematic and the material, the abstract and the concrete, the academic and the popular."
-- (06/06/2013)

About the Author:

Nicholas Perkins is a Fellow of St Hugh's College and Lecturer in Medieval English, University of Oxford. Alison Wiggins is Senior Lecturer in English Language, University of Glasgow.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Bodleian Library
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1851242953
• ISBN 13: 9781851242955
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 152