A01=Lydia Zeldenrust
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Lydia Zeldenrust
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=DSBB
COP=United Kingdom
cross-cultural analysis
cultural adaptation
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
European bestseller
European legend
Language_English
literary transformation
material presentation
medieval Europe
Melusine Romance
PA=Available
pan-European context
Price_€50 to €100
PS=Active
softlaunch
Product details
- ISBN 9781843845218
- Weight: 552g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 17 Jan 2020
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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The legend of Mélusine examined in a pan-European context.
Readers have long been fascinated by the enigmatic figure of Mélusine - 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. This study 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 literature from a European perspective, moving beyond national canons, and reading Mélusine'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 Mélusine's character is adapted within 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 versus print, and medieval versus Renaissance literature, the book integrates literary analysis with art historical and book historical approaches.
LYDIA ZELDENRUST is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York.
