Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Feminist Origins of the Arthurian Legend

by F. Tolhurst

Overview

Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Feminist Origins of the Arthurian Legend provides the first feminist analysis of both the Arthurian section of The History of the Kings of Britain and The Life of Merlin .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781403965431
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	10/25/2012
Series:	Arthurian and Courtly Cultures
Edition description:	2012
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Fiona Tolhurst is Maître Assistante in Medieval and Early Modern English at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

List of Abbreviations xi

Introduction Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Feminist Origins of the Arthurian Legend 1

1 Geoffrey of Monmouth's Arthurian Section as Feminist Legend 15

2 Complicating and Undermining Feminist Legend in Le roman de Brut 55

3 Displacing Feminist Legend in La3amon's Brut 83

4 Geoffrey of Monmouth's Life of Merlin as Feminist Text 113

Conclusion 139

Notes 141

Bibliography 171

Index 185

Editorial Reviews

"Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Feminist Origins of the Arthurian Legend is smart, solid, and even. Its clear and precise prose makes it a highly enjoyable read. The reader leaves reevaluating gender ideas about the Middle Ages. Most important, Tolhurst makes it quite hard - even impossible - not to accept that Geoffrey was a feminist of his day . . . Scholars of Geoffrey, Wace, and Layamon will find this book enlightening and indispensable, as will Arthurian and medieval gender scholars more broadly." - The Medieval Review

From the Publisher