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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Mélusine Romance in Medieval Europe: Translation, Circulation, and Material Contexts

The Mélusine Romance in Medieval Europe: Translation, Circulation, and Material Contexts

Zeldenrust, Lydia

Hardcover

Series: Studies in Medieval Romance, Book 23

Literary CriticismPoetry Criticism

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 1843845210
ISBN13: 9781843845218
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Published: Jan 17 2020
Pages: 286
Weight: 2.10
Height: 1.00 Width: 6.20 Depth: 9.30
Language: English
The legend of Mélusine examined in a pan-European context.

Readers have long been fascinated by the enigmatic figure of Mélusine - a beautiful fairy woman cursed to transform into a half-serpent once a week, whose part-monstrous sons are the ancestor of several European noble houses. This study is the first to consider how this romance developed from a local legend to European bestseller, analysing versions in French, German, Castilian, Dutch, and English. It addresses questions on how to study medieval literature from a European perspective, moving beyond national canons, and reading Mélusine's bodily mutability as a metaphor for how the romance itself moves and transforms across borders. It also analyses key changes to the romance's content, form, and material presentation - including its images - and traces how the people who produced and consumed this romance shaped its international transmission and spread. The author shows how Mélusine's character is adapted within each local context, while also uncovering previously unknown connections between the different branches of this multilingual tradition. Moving beyond established paradigms of separate national traditions, manuscript versus print, and medieval versus Renaissance literature, the book integrates literary analysis with art historical and book historical approaches.

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