Medieval Romance: The Aesthetics of Possibility

"James and Peggy Knapp’s latest joint scholarly endeavor, Medieval Romance: The Aesthetics of Possibility, is a significant and original contribution to the study of medieval romance, for it brings forth and examines the philosophical underpinnings of a number of well-known and extensively studied romances."

Kimberly K. Bell, Sam Houston State University, Modern Philology, vol 117, no 1

"James and Peggy Knapp’s Medieval Romance: The Aesthetics of Possibility is a subtle and theoretically sophisticated re-interrogation of romance as an enabling genre whose labile aesthetics invites readers to reflect on ‘the very nature of perceived reality,’ to critique ‘the lived experience of social structures,’ and ‘to deploy counterfactual fiction to imagine alternative potential futures.’ Integrating philosophical precepts deriving from the works of Leibniz, Kant, Gadamer, Latour and others, Medieval Romance constitutes a fully articulated advance in the critical appreciation of a number of late medieval literary masterpieces, including the lais of Marie de France, Sir Orfeo, Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and the Canterbury Tales, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The gratifying experience of reading this seasoned critical study is a perfect complement to ‘the serious pleasures’ provided by the medieval poems themselves."

Peter W. Travis, Henry Winkley Professorship in Anglo-Saxon and English Language and Literature, Dartmouth College

"The Knapps’ new book on medieval romance enacts its own subject. The reader will find pleasure and wonder on every page. As in romance itself, this pleasure is unexpected, since, as the Knapps demonstrate, romance is not an escape. Instead, it is a form of discovery, philosophical, political and personal. It is the kind of book that inspires us to make the world new again, as romance did in the Middle Ages."

John M. Ganim, Distinguished Professor of English, University of California, Riverside