Gail Ashton is an academic, writer and poet with research and publishing interests in medieval and women's literature, poetry and contemporary literary theory. Recent books include Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (Continuum, 2007) and the co-edited Teaching Chaucer (Palgrave, 2007).

"Over the past decade, the way we think about medieval romance has fundamentally changed. From a literary form once associated with escapism, we are beginning to think about romance as an expression of difficult and complex desires associated with gender, sexuality, national identity, social class, and even race and empire. Gail Ashton's guide renders these new approaches clear and accessible and does so in a way that gives us a way of teaching not only medieval romance, but premodern literature in general, in the twenty-first century." - John Ganim, Professor of English, University of California, Riverside, USA

• Series Preface; Part I: Contexts; 1. Social and cultural contexts; 2. Literary contexts; Review, Reading and Research; Part II: Texts; 3. Readings of key texts; Review, Reading and Research; Part III: Wider contexts; 4. Critical contexts; 5. Afterlives and adaptations; Review, Reading and Research; Bibliography; Index.

Gail Ashton is an academic, writer and poet with research and publishing interests in medieval and women's literature, poetry and contemporary literary theory. Recent books include Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (Continuum, 2007) and the co-edited Teaching Chaucer (Palgrave, 2007).

"Over the past decade, the way we think about medieval romance has fundamentally changed. From a literary form once associated with escapism, we are beginning to think about romance as an expression of difficult and complex desires associated with gender, sexuality, national identity, social class, and even race and empire. Gail Ashton's guide renders these new approaches clear and accessible and does so in a way that gives us a way of teaching not only medieval romance, but premodern literature in general, in the twenty-first century." - John Ganim, Professor of English, University of California, Riverside, USA

• Series Preface; Part I: Contexts; 1. Social and cultural contexts; 2. Literary contexts; Review, Reading and Research; Part II: Texts; 3. Readings of key texts; Review, Reading and Research; Part III: Wider contexts; 4. Critical contexts; 5. Afterlives and adaptations; Review, Reading and Research; Bibliography; Index.

Gail Ashton is an academic, writer and poet with research and publishing interests in medieval and women's literature, poetry and contemporary literary theory. Recent books include Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (Continuum, 2007) and the co-edited Teaching Chaucer (Palgrave, 2007).

"Over the past decade, the way we think about medieval romance has fundamentally changed. From a literary form once associated with escapism, we are beginning to think about romance as an expression of difficult and complex desires associated with gender, sexuality, national identity, social class, and even race and empire. Gail Ashton's guide renders these new approaches clear and accessible and does so in a way that gives us a way of teaching not only medieval romance, but premodern literature in general, in the twenty-first century." - John Ganim, Professor of English, University of California, Riverside, USA

• Series Preface; Part I: Contexts; 1. Social and cultural contexts; 2. Literary contexts; Review, Reading and Research; Part II: Texts; 3. Readings of key texts; Review, Reading and Research; Part III: Wider contexts; 4. Critical contexts; 5. Afterlives and adaptations; Review, Reading and Research; Bibliography; Index.