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 .

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9781403965431

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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"

'Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Feminist Origins of the Arthurian Legend offers readers a rich feast indeed, providing a much-needed reassessment of some of the foundational texts of Arthurian literature. The finest book-length study of Geoffrey and his imitators in well over a decade, Tolhurst's analyses rightly emphasize the feminist project at the heart of Geoffrey's works; in the process, she demonstrates the enduring value of feminist approaches to medieval texts. The Geoffrey of Monmouth who emerges from the pages of this study stands as one of the most engaging and innovative Anglo-Latin writers of the twelfth century. Tolhurst ably shows how Geoffrey endows Arthurian women such as Guenevere and Morgan le Fay with considerable agency and complexity, planting the seeds of a literary tradition that would extend through the Middle Ages and beyond.' - Michael Faletra, associate professor of English and Humanities, Reed College

Author Information

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

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