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Fantastic histories: Medieval fairy narratives and the limits of wonder

Online ISBN:
9781526188182
Print ISBN:
9781526164148
Publisher:
Manchester University Press
Book

Fantastic histories: Medieval fairy narratives and the limits of wonder

Victoria Flood
Victoria Flood

Associate Professor in Medieval and Early Modern Literature

University of Birmingham
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Published online:
23 January 2025
Published in print:
28 May 2024
Online ISBN:
9781526188182
Print ISBN:
9781526164148
Publisher:
Manchester University Press

Abstract

Fantastic histories explores the historically and politically contingent nature of medieval fairy belief, approached through the lens of a single case study: the fairy lover or mother as she was integrated within ostensibly historical contexts. From the writings of Walter Map, Gerald of Wales, and Gervase of Tilbury to the romances associated with the serpentine fairy Mélusine, the founder and dynastic mother of the house of Lusignan (texts responsive to these earlier Latin mirabilia), it uncovers the principles of historical discernment applied to these narratives and their relative historical positioning. Approaching a significant chapter in the medieval development of, and relationship between, history and romance, it explores the interpenetration of the two, asking where a particular discourse (rather than genre) might dominate and determine the horizon of reader expectations.

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