The Chivalric Romance and the Essence of Fiction

by Dani Cavallaro

Overview

Ranging from Chretien de Troyes to Shakespeare, this study proposes that the chivalric romance is characterized by a centerless structure, self-conscious fictionality and a propensity for irony.

The form is tied to historical reality, yet represents the archetype of imaginative literature, declaring its fictional status without claiming to embody fixed truths. Through use of irony, the chivalric romance precludes conclusive interpretations, inviting readers to inhabit multifold fantasy worlds while uncompromisingly showing that an ideal world is only a fiction. Thus the reader is enjoined to confront the suspension of truth in their own lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786499830
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	12/28/2015
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

The late Dani Cavallaro wrote widely about literature, cultural theory, and anime. She lived in London.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface
Part
One—Genesis
Two—Form and Structure
Part
Three—Creative Cornerstones: Chrétien de Troyes and the Lancelot-Grail Cycle
Four—Medieval Masters: Chaucer, Malory, the Lay and the Gawain Poet
Five—Renaissance Refashionings: Ariosto, Spenser and Shakespeare
Bibliography
Index