The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Literature 1150-1500 » (New Edition)

Larry Scanlon is Associate Professor of English at Rutgers University.

A wide-ranging survey of the most important medieval authors and genres, designed for students of English.

Abbreviations vii

Contributors ix

Chronology xi

Introduction Larry Scanlon 1

Part I Contexts, Genres, and Traditions

1 Re-inventing the vernacular: Middle English language and its literature Wendy Scase 11

2 Textual production and textual communities Richard Firth Green 25

3 Religious writing: hagiography, pastoralia, devotional and contemplative works Richard Newhauser 37

4 Romance Christine Chism 57

5 Dialogue, debate, and dream vision Steven F. Kruger 71

6 Drama Sarah Beckwith 83

7 Lyric Ardis Butterfield 95

8 Lollard writings Rita Copeland 111

Part II Authors

9 William Langland Ralph Hanna 125

10 The Gawain-poet Sarah Stanbury 139

11 John Gower Diane Watt 153

12 Geoffrey Chaucer Larry Scanlon 165

13 Julian of Norwich Lynn Staley 179

14 Thomas Hoccleve Ethan Knapp 191

15 John Lydgate James Simpson 205

16 Margery Kempe Rebecca Krug 217

17 Sir Thomas Malory David Wallace 229

18 Robert Henryson Sally Mapstone 243

Guide to further reading 257

Index 279