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Michael Johnston. Romance and the Gentry in Late Medieval England: Reviewed by Ursula Schaefer

In the “Introduction” (1–20) Johnston identifies three “simultaneous developments” which the book should bring together: for one, the “gentry […] emerging into a distinct and quite numerous stratum within the aristocracy”; secondly, the “[r]omance adapt[ing] to this change, opening up a new ideological space for this new class of readers”; and, finally, “book production” – in particular: copying by booklets and the increasing use of paper – “conveniently facilitating provincial copying and circulation of provincially oriented texts”. These three developments, says Johnston, “coalesced to yield a new type of romance” which he dubs gentry romance (14). His aim is to show that the gentry had an active part in the late history of English romance as some of its members – literally – appropriated (specimens of) this genre “most closely related with the aristocracy” (15).

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:71360
Date14 July 2020
CreatorsSchaefer, Ursula
PublisherDe Gruyter
Source SetsHochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Relation1865-8938, 10.1515/ang-2016-0012

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