The Romance Of William And The Werewolf

A magical, long-forgotten masterpiece, The Romance of William and the Werewolf - or William of Palerne - was originally translated from French and then converted into an alliterative Middle English romance by an obscure Gloucestershire scribe in c. 1350. It is a story of how two princes overcome the wicked deeds of family members to reclaim their inheritance and build a society based on tolerance and equality. Until now, it has never been translated effectively into modern English. Like many medieval romances, it is a multi-layered tale. Written over 600 years ago it has timeless messages about poverty, justice, exile and 'otherness'; its themes of inheritance, the freedom of women, fairness and forgiveness, familial responsibility and social class, speak to us just as clearly today, and challenge us to reflect upon today's class-driven politics and the corruption, entitlement and indifference which underlie it. As with Michael Smith's other translations - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and King Arthur's Death - The Romance of William and the Werewolf will feature a detailed historical introduction, a comprehensive glossary and notes, and Michael's own rich and beautiful linocut illustrations.

This popular and important romance in the Middle Ages was written in Picard, one of the more difficult regional dialects of Old French. Guillaume de Palerne is a non-Arthurian romance offering a different vision of the medieval world, one in which we find the hero in a more realistic setting confronting the obstacles that fate--not his quest for fame--has set in his path. It is the story of a young prince of Sicily who is kidnapped by a werewolf at the age of four. Woven into the story of the eponymous hero is the parallel story of Alphonse, the Spanish prince who was transformed into a werewolf by his stepmother when he was still a toddler. The anonymous poet has woven humor, contemporary allusions, reworkings of traditional motifs and a hidden moral lesson into the story's engaging plot. The romance also presents the reader and scholar with a complex portrayal of the constancy and changeability of identity that provides new insight into the medieval attitude toward individuality. Based primarily on Alexandre Micha's 1990 edition, this translation is intended as a guide to reading the original rather than as a substitute. The editor has attempted to be as literal as possible and to remain faithful to the register and tone of the original, including its original word order and grammatical structure. In addition to the translation, the finished text includes an introduction, notes and a select bibliography.

Unique in combining a comprehensive and comparative study of genre with a study of romance, this book constitutes a significant contribution to ongoing critical debates over the definition of romance and the genre and artistry of Malory's Morte Darthur. K.S. Whetter offers an original approach to these issues by prefacing a comprehensive study of romance with a wide-ranging and historically diverse study of genre and genre theory. In doing so Whetter addresses the questions of why and how romance might usefully be defined and how such an awareness of genre-and the expectations that come with such awareness-impact upon both our understanding of the texts themselves and of how they may have been received by their contemporary medieval audiences. As an integral part the study Whetter offers a detailed examination of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur, a text usually considered a straightforward romance but which Whetter argues should be re-classified and reconsidered as a generic mixture best termed tragic-romance. This new classification is important in helping to explain a number of so-called inconsistencies or puzzles in Malory's text and further elucidates Malory's artistry. Whetter offers a powerful meditation upon genre, romance and the Morte which will be of interest to faculty, graduate students and undergraduates alike.

This title explores how wardship literature in romance may be used in studies of wardship, and how it may complement an understanding of legal history. Wardship discourse is examined in a variety of sources - legal treatises, cases, and romance.