TY - CHAP

T1 - What We Leave Behind: Legacy in Malory's Characterisation of Guenevere and Lancelot

AU - Radulescu, Raluca

PY - 2024/11/18

Y1 - 2024/11/18

N2 - This chapter engages with literary legacy means, and how authors grapple with the issue in medieval Arthurian romance beyond acknowledging their sources. Malory drew on a known set of French and English sources, often providing original insights into where flexibility in the adaptation might be allowed, without adjusting the plot. In this chapter I examine the literary legacy Malory draws on for his characterisation of Lancelot and Guenevere and the new context in which he was writing - which imposed different cultural constraints, and political interpretations. While the literary legacy granted Lancelot is a purely romance one, focusing on his chivalric stature and the limitations of courtly love, Guenevere also brings along the political legacy of the chronicle tradition going as far back as Geoffrey of Monmouth. In small, but significant ways, Malory presents new facets to Lancelot and Guenevere that enhance their potential to become originators of another legacy, in the arena of fifteenth-century political discourse. Thus in this study I honour Fiona Tolhurst's own scholarly legacy by engaging with two of her favourite topics, therefore: Geoffrey of Monmouth/the chronicle tradition and Arthurian women.

AB - This chapter engages with literary legacy means, and how authors grapple with the issue in medieval Arthurian romance beyond acknowledging their sources. Malory drew on a known set of French and English sources, often providing original insights into where flexibility in the adaptation might be allowed, without adjusting the plot. In this chapter I examine the literary legacy Malory draws on for his characterisation of Lancelot and Guenevere and the new context in which he was writing - which imposed different cultural constraints, and political interpretations. While the literary legacy granted Lancelot is a purely romance one, focusing on his chivalric stature and the limitations of courtly love, Guenevere also brings along the political legacy of the chronicle tradition going as far back as Geoffrey of Monmouth. In small, but significant ways, Malory presents new facets to Lancelot and Guenevere that enhance their potential to become originators of another legacy, in the arena of fifteenth-century political discourse. Thus in this study I honour Fiona Tolhurst's own scholarly legacy by engaging with two of her favourite topics, therefore: Geoffrey of Monmouth/the chronicle tradition and Arthurian women.

M3 - Chapter

BT - Medieval and Arthurian Studies in memory of Fiona Tolhurst

A2 - Whetter, Kevin

A2 - Armstrong, Dorsey

PB - Boydell & Brewer

CY - Cambridge

ER -