Authentically Medieval
Authors and Scholars on Depicting the Middle Ages in Fiction
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About the Book
This collection compiles essays by medievalist scholars that examine the variety of ways authors have fictionalized the medieval period while meeting the challenge of creating engaging literature. More significantly, this project seeks to explore the importance of authenticity in these works of medievalism. The works discussed represent a variety of genres, including historical, young adult, Arthurian detective fiction, paranormal romance and fantasy, as well as adaptations of Beowulf and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
Opening the collection are three essays by author-scholars who share their processes of creating an authentic medieval world appealing to a wide audience. The remaining seven essays by medievalist scholars examine a variety of medievalist texts, addressing the extent to which their authors adhere to the facts of the period, while at times necessarily filling in historical gaps in the process of creating these works. Each of the essays addresses the concept of authenticity in fiction about the Middle Ages; together, they become a lively conversation about authenticity in narratives of various genres.
About the Author(s)
Debra E. Best is a professor of English at California State University-Dominguez Hills.
Elizabeth L. Rambo is an associate professor of English at Campbell University.
Patricia H. Ward is a professor emerita at the College of Charleston.
Bibliographic Details
Edited by Debra E. Best, Elizabeth L. Rambo and Patricia H. Ward
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 188
Bibliographic Info: 13 photos, notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8855-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5487-4
Imprint: McFarland
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction
Debra E. Best, Patricia H. Ward and Elizabeth L. Rambo 1
A Nun, a Werewolf and a Medievalist Walk into a Romance Novel: Writing Fantasy Medievalism
Emily Lavin Leverett 9
Riding with Chaucer on the Bus of Anachronism: Modernizing the Canterbury Tales
Kim Zarins 23
“God’s elbows, boy, don’t burn me with the facts”: Faithful Revisionism in the “Merlin Mysteries” Series
Jay Ruud 49
Mind the Gaps: World-Building in Rebecca Barnhouse’s The Coming of the Dragon and Peaceweaver
Patricia H. Ward 65
“Her life was no heroic adventure of daring and greatness”: Susan Signe Morrison’s Grendel’s Mother: The Saga of the Wyrd-Wife and the Hidden Violence of Beowulf
Alison Gulley 82
Playing Chaucer’s Game in Paul Doherty’s Canterbury Tales Series
M. Wendy Hennequin 92
The Fantasy Space of Medieval History: Authenticity in Bruce Holsinger’s A Burnable Book
Debra E. Best 105
Justice as Women’s Work in the Novels of Candace Robb
Teresa Marie Hooper 120
Nuns and Nun-Sense: Recreating Medieval Spirituality in the Dame Frevisse Novels of Margaret Frazer
Josephine A. Koster 146
Accidental Medievalist: Dorothy Dunnett and King Hereafter
Elizabeth L. Rambo and Heike Meyer 162
About the Contributors 173
Index 175