Boundaries in medieval romance : [9th Biennial Medieval Romance Conference ... University College Dublin ... in April 2004

A wide-ranging collection on one of the most interesting features of medieval romance. Medieval romance frequently, and perhaps characteristically, capitalises on the dramatic and suggestive possibilities implicit in boundaries - not only the geographical, political and cultural frontiers that medieval romances imagine and imply, but also more metaphorical demarcations. It is these boundaries, as they appear in insular romances circulating in English and French, which the essays in this volume address. They include the boundary between reality and fictionality; boundaries between different literary traditions, modes and cultures; and boundaries between different kinds of experience or perception, especially the "altered states" associated with sickness, magic, the supernatural, or the divine. HELEN COOPER, ROSALIND FIELD, MARIANNE AILES, PHILLIPA HARDMAN, ELIZABETH BERLINGS, SIMON MEECHAM-JONES, ELIZABETH WILLIAMS, ARLYN DIAMOND, ROBERT ROUSE, LAURA ASHE, JUDITH WEISS, IVANA DJORDJEVIC, CORINNE SAUNDERS Introduction / Neil Cartlidge -- When Romance Comes True / Helen Cooper -- The Curious History Of The Matter Of England / Rosalind Field -- How English Are The English Charlemagne Romances? / Marianne Ailes And Phillipa Hardman -- The Sege Of Melayne, A Comic Romance; Or, How The French Screwed Up And 'oure Bretonns' Rescued Them / Elizabeth Berlings -- Romance Society And Its Discontents: Romance Motifs And Romance Consequences In The Song Of Dermot And The Normans In Ireland / Simon Meecham-jones -- England, Ireland, And Iberia In Olyuer Of Castylle: The View From Burgundy / Elizabeth Williams -- The Alliterative Siege Of Jerusalem: The Poetics Of Destruction / Arlyn Diamond -- The Peace Of The Roads: Authority And Auctoritas In Medieval Romance / Robert Rouse -- The Hero And His Realm In Medieval English Romance / Laura Ashe -- 'the Courteous Warrior': Epic, Romance And Comedy In Boeve De Haumtone / Judith Weiss -- Rewriting Divine Favour / Ivana Djordjević -- Bodily Narratives: Illness, Medicine And Healing In Middle English Romance / Corinne Saunders. Edited By Neil Cartlidge. Series Numbering Provided By Vendor. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Preface vii Notes on Contributors viii Abbreviations x Introduction / Neil Cartlidge 1 When Romance Comes True / Helen Cooper 13 The Curious History of the Matter of England / Rosalind Field 29 How English are the English Charlemagne Romances? / Phillipa Hardman and Marianne Ailes 43 The "Sege of Melayne"; or, How the French Screwed Up and "Oure Brettons" Rescued Them / Elizabeth Berlings 57 Romance Society and its Discontents: Romance Motifs and Romance Consequence's in "The Song of Dermot and the Normans in Ireland" / Simon Meecham-Jones 71 England, Ireland and Iberia in "Olyuer of Castylle": The View from Burgundy / Elizabeth Williams 93 The Alliterative "Siege of Jerusalem": The Poetics of Destruction / Arlyn Diamond 103 The Peace of the Roads: Authority and "auctoritas" in Medieval Romance / Robert Rouse 115 The Hero and his Realm in Medieval English Romance / Laura Ashe 129 The Courteous Warrior: Epic, Romance and Comedy in "Boeve de Haumtone" / Judith Weiss 149 Rewriting Divine Favour / Ivana Djordjevic 161 Bodily Narratives: Illness, Medicine and Healing in Middle English Romance / Corinne Saunders 175 Index 191 A wide-ranging collection on one of the most interesting features of medieval romance.Medieval romance frequently, and perhaps characteristically, capitalises on the dramatic and suggestive possibilities implicit in boundaries - not only the geographical, political and cultural frontiers that medieval romances imagine and imply, but also more metaphorical demarcations. It is these boundaries, as they appear in insular romances circulating in English and French, which the essays in this volume address. They include the boundary between reality and fictionality; boundaries between different literary traditions, modes and cultures; and boundaries between different kinds of experience or perception, especially the'altered states'associated with sickness, magic, the supernatural, or the divine. CONTRIBUTORS: HELEN COOPER, ROSALIND FIELD, MARIANNE AILES, PHILLIPA HARDMAN, ELIZABETH BERLINGS, SIMON MEECHAM-JONES, ELIZABETH WILLIAMS, ARLYN DIAMOND, ROBERT ROUSE, LAURA ASHE, JUDITH WEISS, IVANA DJORDJEVIC, CORINNE SAUNDERS