Forging Chivalric Communities in Malory's Le Morte Darthur

Forging Chivalric Communities in Marlory's Morte D'Arthur shows that Malory treats chivalry not as a static institution but as a dynamic, continually evolving ideal. Le Morte D'arthur is structured to trace how communities and individuals adapt or create chivalric codes for their own purposes; in turn, codes of chivalry shape groups and their customs. Knights' loyalties are torn not just between lords and lovers but also between the different codes of chivalry and between different communities. Women, too, choose among the different roles they are asked to play as queens, counsellors, and even quasi-knights.

"Hodges's book thoughtfully challenges the monolithic view of chivalry which most or all readers have brought to the Morte. Readers will gain useful insights from his comments. Hodges's regular return to the question of the role(s) of women in chivalric communities is likewise well conceived, and his challenges to such acknowledged authorities on the issue as Dorsey Armstrong and Geraldine Heng are stimulating." - D. Thomas Hanks Jr., Journal of English and Germanic Philology

Autorentext
KENNETH HODGES has taught at Allegheny College, Bates College, and the University of Oklahoma, and is now an Assistant Professor of English at Keene State College in New Hampshire, USA.

Inhalt
Introduction: Medieval by a Month A Writer in Quest for English History Swords and Sorceresses The Shadow of Rome: Arthur, Lucius, and Launcelot Provincial Knights and Younger Sons: Trystram, Gareth, and Lameroke Privy Thoughts The Death of Guinevere