"Professor Alan Deyermond was one of the leading British Hispanists of the last fifty years, whose work had a formative influence on medieval Hispanic studies around the world ... Given Professor Deyermond's breadth of expertise, the span of the essays is appropriately wide, ranging chronologically from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, and covering lyric, hagiography, clerical verse narrative, frontier balladry, historical and codicological studies"--P. [4] of cover.

This reference is a comprehensive guide to literature written 500 to 1500 A.D., a period that gave rise to some of the world's most enduring and influential works, such as Dante's Commedia, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and a large body of Arthurian lore and legend. While its emphasis is upon medieval English texts and society, this reference also covers Islamic, Hispanic, Celtic, Mongolian, Germanic, Italian, and Russian literature and Middle Age culture. Longer entries provide thorough coverage of major English authors such as Chaucer and Sir Thomas Malory, and of genre entries, such as drama, lyric, ballad, debate, saga, chronicle, and hagiography. Shorter entries examine particular literary works; significant kings, artists, explorers, and religious leaders; important themes, such as courtly love and chivalry; and major historical events, such as the Crusades. Each entry concludes with a brief biography. The volume closes with a list of the most valuable general works for further reading.

In this volume seventeen scholars from Great Britain, Ireland, Spain and the US pay tribute to the memory of Roger M Walker, Professor of Spanish at Birkbeck College, London. His publications were chiefly in the field of Old Spanish narrative epic, romance, hagiography and the Libro de buen amor and the editors have sought to assemble contributions on these topics. Versions of some of the papers were presented at the symposium held in Professor Walkers memory at Birkbeck College in October 1999.

Distinguished scholars from both sides of the Atlantic make a major contribution to medieval literary studies in contributions ranging from early epic to Fernando de Rojas. Studies on cuaderna via' verse and the poets of the cancionero' figure prominently, as do the Libro de buen amor' and Celestina'; these are complemented by individual essays on texts outside the mainstream, on the language and versification of the period, on the prose writers of the fifteenth century, and on literary activity in Catalonia, Galicia and Portugal. The collection demonstrates the range of interest and approach characteristic of recent Hispanic scholarship, and provides new insights into the medieval mind at work in the Iberian peninsula. IAN MACPHERSON is former Professor of Spanish, University of Durham; RALPH PENNY is Professor of Romance Philology, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. Studies in Honour of Professor Alan Deyermond, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. Contributors: LOLA BADIA, RAFAEL BELTRAN, CHARLES BURNETT, LLUIS CABRE, ROSANNA CANTAVELLA, PEDRO CATEDRA, JUAN CARLOS CONDE LOPEZ, MARTIN DUFFELL, JOSE FRADEJAS LEBRERO, JOSE MANUEL FRADEJAS RUEDA, JOHN GORNALL, L.P. HARVEY, THOMAS R. HART, LOUISE M. HAYWOOD, DAVID HOOK, VICTOR INFANTES DE MIGUEL, JEREMY LAWRENCE, HELDER MACEDO, IAN MACPHERSON, IAN MICHAEL, ALBERTO MONTANER FRUTOS, D.G. PATTISON, RALPH PENNY, STEPHEN RECKERT, FRANCISCO RICO, REGULA ROHLAND DE LANGBEHN, NICHOLAS G. ROUND, PETER RUSSELL, DOROTHY S. SEVERIN, COLIN SMITH, BARRY TAYLOR, ARTHUR TERRY, J.E. VAREY, JULIAN WEISS, GEOFFREY WEST, JANE WHETNALL.

Clogan (English, U. North Texas and fellow of the American Academy in Rome) has brought together five articles that consider the question of reading and the reader in the Roman de la Rose, The Wife's Lament, the Pearl, the work of Jean Gerson, Christine de Pizan, and the Iberian writer and scholar Don Ishaq Abravanel. The last third of the volume contains reviews. c. Book News Inc.

"Spanish medieval language and literature newsletter." (varies)