Geoffrey of Monmouth as Feminist Historian, Mythmaker, and Mythographer (Studies in Arthurian and Courtly Cultures)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: August 5, 2009
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9781403965431
Subjects: Feminism; Literary studies: classical, early & medieval; Literary studies: general; Literary Criticism & Collections / Medieval; Feminist; General; Medieval; Literary Criticism; Literature - Classics / Criticism
Description: "In this study, Fiona Tolhurst offers the first feminist analysis the Arthurian section of Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain and his Life of Merlin. It argues that Geoffrey's history presents the marriage of Queen Igerna and King Uther as founded upon both love and equality, Igerna and Uther's daughter Anna as a pivotal figure in British history, and Queen Ganhumara as King Arturus's partner in power. In addition, the Merlin poem introduces a Morgen who possesses powers that Merlin does not, and a Ganieda who replaces Merlin as the prophet of the Britons"--