Customer Reviews

Middle English Romances (Norton Critical Editions)

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Once much maligned in the critical tradition, the Middle English romances are gradually recovering their respectability as a field of study as more and more scholars pay skillful and thoughtful attention to them. This book is both a product and a proponent of that trend. Extremely well-edited in true Norton style, this edition makes a selection of worthy (and, frankly, really fun to read) romances accessible to undergraduate students or, possibly, very bright and avid high-school readers. Though designated by theme, the texts chosen represent some of the most important influences on the Middle English romance: French originals vs. early English legends and the subgenres of the Arthurian tradition, the Breton lay, and the crusading romance. The source and background texts are, as always, important elements of the Norton critical editions that help students understand the shape and context of the work, and the criticism usefully covers the major points of theme, language, generic definition, and audience. Though there's so much more that can be said, this book accomplishes the enviable task of providing a complete sample for those students who will stop their study of the romance here as well as giving a solid introduction to those students who, as brave as questing knights, want to pursue the subject further.

For starters, the more serious student should pick up French and Hale's collection of metrical romances (Middle English Metrical Romances) as they provide a more comprehensive selection of tales: 19 complete tales, including most of the ones featured here, missing only "The Awntyrs of Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne" and "The Sege off Melayne," and stooping to include classics such as "The Squyre of Lowe Degre" ; "Sir Degare" ; "Gamelyn" ; "Chevelere Assigne" and "The Tournament of Tottenham." In edition to the complete tales, they also include selections of others, including Layamon's Brut. I have the single volume 1930 edition, but there is also a 1964 two-volume set, which may contain more tales.

That being said, the Norton includes seven important tales (listed above in product description), a selection of historical (L'Estoire des Engleis), literary (Chretien's Yvain and the anonymous Landevale), philosophical (Boethius' Consolation), and other background material. It also includes classic essays in the field, in particular Erich Auerbach's "The Knights Set Forth" and A.C. Baugh's "Improvisation in the Middle English Romance." For the money, this collection is decent, and as another reviewer mentioned, this is a great undergraduate teaching text.

One should also keep in mind the wide variety TEAMS texts, such as a collection of Gawain romances (Sir Gawain: Eleven Romances and Tales (TEAMS Middle English Texts)), miscellaneous collections (Amis and Amiloun, Robert of Cisyle, and Sir Amadace and Four Middle English Romances: Sir Isumbras, Octavian, Sir Eglamour of Artois, Sir Tryamour (Middle English Texts)), and one of the great alliterative masterpieces of the middle ages, The Alliterative Morte (King Arthur's Death: The Middle English Stanzaic Morte Arthur and Alliterative Morte Arthure (TEAMS Middle English Texts)). TEAMS in general makes OK editions, although their translations tend toward the idiomatic or interpretative rather than the literal, which (in my opinion) would be more helpful to the student. Also, spelling is often modernized, which I think is a mistake, but there you are.