Overview

The legend of Melusine examined in a pan-European context. Readers have long been fascinated by the enigmatic figure of Melusine - 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. Thisstudy 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 literaturefrom a European perspective, moving beyond national canons, and reading Melusine'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 Melusine's character is adaptedwithin 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 versusprint, and medieval versus Renaissance literature, the book integrates literary analysis with art historical and book historical approaches.

Full Product Details

Author:   Lydia Zeldenrust (Royalty Account)
Publisher:   Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Imprint:   D.S. Brewer
Volume:   v. 23
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.001kg
ISBN:  

9781843845218

ISBN 10:   1843845210
Pages:   285
Publication Date:   17 January 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: Mutations of Mélusine Chapter 1: The French Mélusine and Roman de Parthenay Textual Witnesses: Audience, Variance, Selected Corpus Mélusine: God's Marvellous Monster Careful Plotting: Revealing Mélusine's Curse and Fairy Nature From Half-Serpent to Serpent: Hybridity and Transformation Inheriting Monstrosity: Mélusine's Sons Chapter 2: The German Melusine From Manuscript to Print: Audiences, Images, and Textual Stability Melusine the Ideal Christian Fairy Serpent or Half-Serpent? Melusine the Monstrous Mother Chapter 3: The Castilian Melosina The 1489 Edition by Parix and Cleblat The 1526 Edition by the Crombergers Key Transformations in Style and Paratext Melosina: More Fairy than Human? A Catholic Wedding Duality Versus Animality Depicting/Recycling the Monstrous Body: Melosina's Sons Chapter 4: The Dutch Meluzine The 1491 Edition by Gheraert Leeu The 1510 Edition by Henrick Eckert van Homberch The 1602 Edition by Hieronymus I Verdussen A Hybrid Translation: How, Why, and Which Source? More Human than Fairy Becoming the Animal Increased Focus on Hybridity Chapter 5: The English Melusine and Partenay The Prose Melusine The Printed Melusine Fragments The Verse Partenay Why Translations of Both Versions? Translation Strategies: Content versus Form 'ryght as the frenshe wil yiff me evidence': Invisibility and Close Translation Melusine and Her Part-Monstrous Sons Conclusion: Mélusine's European Dimensions Appendix: Manuscripts and Printed Editions of the Various Mélusine Versions (up to c. 1600)

Reviews

Zeldenrust [...] offers an important contribution to studies of the Melusine romance. By placing the Melusine romance in a broad literary and historical context, Zeldenrust expands on previous studies that focus primarily on French versions. * CHOICE * [I]mpressively wide-ranging and engaging... Zeldenrust's work is a vital, informative, and original contribution to scholarship on this important, spellbinding narrative tradition. * MEDIEVAL REVIEW *

Author Information

LYDIA ZELDENRUST is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York.

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