Romance is a varied and fluid literary genre, notoriously difficult to define. This groundbreaking Companion surveys the many permutations of romance throughout the ages.

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• Considers the literary and historical development of the romance genre from its classical origins to the present day
  
• Incorporates discussion of the changing readership of romance and of romance’s special relation to women readers
  
• Comprises 30 essays written by leading authorities on different periods and sub-genres
  
• Challenges the idea that the appeal of romance is exclusively escapist
  
• Draws on a wide range of specific and influential literary examples

• A COMPANION TO ROMANCE From Classical to Contemporary 6
  • Contents 8
  • List of Illustrations 11
  • Acknowledgments 12
  • Notes on Contributors 13
  • Introduction 18
  • 1. Ancient Romance 27
  • 2. Insular Beginnings: Anglo-Norman Romance 43
  • 3. The Popular English Metrical Romances 62
  • 4. Arthurian Romance 82
  • 5. Chaucer’s Romances 102
  • 6. Malory and the Early Prose Romances 121
  • 7. Gendering Prose Romance in Renaissance England 138
  • 8. Sidney and Spenser 157
  • 9. Shakespeare’s Romances 177