Table of Contents

Part 1 The origins of the Romance forest: the historical forest; the Biblical wilderness; the philosophical tradition - "Silva" and "Hyle". Part 2 Classical antecedents and romance retellings: the classical tradition; the "Roman d'Antiquite". Part 3 The forest of courtly romance - the 12th century: the Breton lay; the romances of "Chretien de Troyes"; the "Tristan" romances. Part 4 Convention and innovation - the 13th century: "Contes"; the prose romances of "Lancelot" and "Tristan". Part 5 The landscape of vision - Merlin and the Grail Quest: the "Vita Merlini" and the hagiographic tradition; the "Queste del Saint Graal". Part 6 Multiple readings - the Middle English romances: "Sir Orfeo"; "Sir Launfal"; "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"; Chaucer. Part 7 The forests of Logres - Malory's "Morte Darthur". Part 8 Rewriting the forest - Spenser and Shakespeare: Spenser's "The Faerie Queene"; Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "As You Like It".

About the Author

Corinne Saunders is Professor of Medieval Literature at the Department of English Studies, University of Durham.

Reviews

Valuable for its discussions of medieval English and French romances and lays, and especially for its survey of their varieties of wooded landscape - idyllic and exilic, amorous and adventurous. MEDIUM AEVUMCorinne Saunders tackles [forests] with practicality and a clear scheme... she follows a clear chronological plan from 12th to 15th centuries. Her text-by-text layout does justice to the variety of possibilities taken up by different authors. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT [Tom Shippey 07/01/94]Elegant volume... will be essential to future research in the field. STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCERA useful contribution to our understanding of romance narratives.
*LEEDS STUDIES IN ENGLISH*