Heroes and Anti-Heroes in Medieval Romance

The well-chosen bookends of the collection are, on the one hand, classical and legendary figures of Turnus (in Penny Eley's essay) and Alexander the Great (in David Ashurst's) and, on the other, 'Ungallant Knights,' by James Wade, and 'Sons of Devils,' by Neil Cartlidge. [...]the analyses of Turnus and Alexander, heroes whose development is explored in a range of Old French and Middle English texts, provide a foundation for the essays by Lamont and Ashe. Both the typological approach and the survey format of the essays might mislead some readers into believing this is a 'dictionary of romance heroes and anti-heroes' of sorts; such readers might expect definitions and/or broad coverage of character types, or at least some formalized approach to languages and/or intersections and influences in insular/continental romance. Quietly provocative, this collection will engage newcomers to the field of medieval romance (the primary target of the book, given its title) as well as seasoned specialists interested in branching out into new territories or brushing up on the latest research on a specific character.