Berceo's 'Vida de Santa Oria': Text, Translation and Commentary
Anthony Lappin
Legenda (General Series) 1 November 2000

  • ‘While chiefly important for providing the specialist with a reliable version of the VSO, it also gives a detailed commentary on the text: both of these will now be indispensable tools for the Berceo scholar. The English translation will usefully serve to make the Vida de Santa Oria accessible to scholars of other disciplines.’ — Gregory Peter Andrachuk, Modern Language Review 97.3, 2002, 743-5 (full text online)
  • ‘The problems presented to a modern editor of Berceo's Vida de Santa Oria are daunting. The text survives in a unique medieval copy [which] appears to have been made, at the most conservative estimate, more than a century after the death of its author... Lappin keeps Berceo's text clean and readable by relegating textual notes to the end, and supports the text with over a hundred pages of informed and detailed critical commentary... There is much to be said for [Lappin's] essentially pragmatic editorial approach. It honestly confronts the problem of a late or corrupt copy-text and does not assume, as has happened so often in the past, that an author who has become part of the canon is therefore free from literary sin and incapable of omission or logical inconsistency. Lappin's Berceo emerges as an immaculate composer of verse but a vulnerable story-teller.’ — Ian Macpherson, Bulletin of Spanish Studies LXXX, 2003, 112-13
  • ‘Should become the standard reference for all future research on the Vida and, indeed, a touchstone for studying all of Berceo's hagiographies.’ — E. Michael Gerli, Speculum 2003, 2003, 936-8
  • ‘Un buon lavoro, che risolve sicuramente alcuni problemi editoriali e interpretavi.’ — Eduardo Blasco Ferrer, Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 120/2, 2004, 411-14
  • ‘The publication of a full lenght study and edition of one of Berceo's hagiographic works is a rare event; even rarer is the appearance of an English translation. But this book is not likely to be remembered for these reasons. More likely is that it will be read for what it is: a radical, but flawed, attempt to breathe new life into Oria scholarship.’ — Andrew M. Beresford, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies Volume 80, n.1, January 2003, 119-20

Cobras e Son: Papers on the Text, Music and Manuscripts of the 'Cantigas de Santa Maria'
Edited by Stephen Parkinson
Legenda (General Series) 1 December 2000

  • ‘The collection reflects scholarship of a high order and will surely mark a new phase in Cantiga studies... The editing is impeccable.’ — John Gornall, Bulletin of Spanish Studies LXXX, 2003, 110-12
  • ‘Die Akten eines Kolloquiums bieten - neben einer knappen Einleitung (1-6) und Ergebnisprotokollen zweier Diskussionen - zehn Studien zu den Cantigas de Santa Maria (= CSM) vor allem aus textphilologisch-kodikologischer, musikwissenschaftlicher oder kunstgeschichtlicher Perspektive.’ — Albert Gier, Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 119, 2003, 688-9
  • ‘As the post-1994 bibliography included in this volume shows, the musicological, art-historical, textual and codicological research brought together here represents, in clear and succinct form, the foundations of the current stage of Cantigas scholarship.’ — Kirstin Kennedy, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies Volume 80, n. 4, october 2003, 576-8

Dante in Oxford: The Paget Toynbee Lectures
Edited by Tristan Kay, Martin McLaughlin and Michelangelo Zaccarello
Legenda (General Series) 4 February 2011

  • ‘A welcome addition to the ocean of Dante studies.’ — John A. Scott, Modern Language Review 108.2, April 2013, 648-50 (full text online)

Dante the Lyric and Ethical Poet: Dante lirico e etico
Edited by Zygmunt G. Barański and Martin McLaughlin
Legenda (General Series) 23 April 2010

  • ‘The essay by Justin Steinberg deserves emphasis... it makes a significant contribution to modern Dante scholarship. In a well-argued and well-documented approach, Steinberg discusses Dante’s dreams in Vita nova and the author’s use of dreams to explore questions of truth and fiction.’ — Unn Falkeid, Renaissance Quarterly 64.1, Spring 2011, 157-58
  • ‘All in all, then, this is an impressive volume—a shade formidable, I would say, in respect of its user unfriendliness (acres of text on the page and a rather intrusive accumulation of translations and references in the body of the text)—but impressive for all that.’ — John Took, Modern Language Review 107.1, January 2012, 290-92 (full text online)

Dante's Plurilingualism: Authority, Knowledge, Subjectivity
Edited by Sara Fortuna, Manuele Gragnolati and Jürgen Trabant
Legenda (General Series) 6 September 2010

  • ‘From the introduction to the concluding interview with Giorgio Pressburger, this volume of essays is characterized by both authoritative contributions from major figures in Dante studies (Baranski, Gragnolati, Pertile) and also by genuinely original lines of enquiry. Dante’s Plurilingualism constitutes an indispensable point of reference for contemporary Dante studies, an ideal companion to the new Dante editions that have recently appeared, and also acts as a constant spur to reread all of the poet’s works, and to appreciate the ‘plurilingualism’ that is inherent even in those works that that precede the Comedy.’ — Federica Pich, Lettere Italiane 2011, 323-28
  • ‘Although we also find essays that offer a strong historicizing or linguistic focus and others that are powerful contributions to the methodologies and findings traditionally associated with Dante studies, the volume remains of particular note (and importance) for its concern to open Dante up to dialogue across disciplines and to relate him to contemporary debates.’ — Simon Gilson, Modern Language Review 107.1, January 2012, 292-93 (full text online)
  • ‘Colpisce e affascina, in Dante’s Plurilingualism, una ben percepibile disposizione all’audacia interpretativa, al “saggio” come esperimento intellettuale; ciò che convince, nell’insieme, è che non si sia di fronte alla mera esibizione di uno “stile” critico – pur di- versamente delineato –, ma ad un molteplice tentativo di indagine su Dante, inteso come oggetto e al tempo stesso soggetto non tanto di una determinata stagione della lingua e della letteratura italiane, quanto di una più ampia e complessa storia culturale.’ — Martino Marazzi, L'Alighieri 39, June 2012, 160-64
  • ‘Proprio nella lingua che usiamo, con cui scriviamo, possiamo essere convinti che Dante sia arrivato prima di noi e che ci abbia lasciato una grandissima eredità. Gli interventi di questo volume riescono a mettere in evidenza tutti gli aspetti per cui la lingua di Dante e il suo modo di utilizzarla appaiono ancora oggi come un 'miracolo inconcepibile'.’ — Irene Baccarini, Dante VIII, 2011, 227-30

Desire in Dante and the Middle Ages
Edited by Manuele Gragnolati, Tristan Kay, Elena Lombardi and Francesca Southerden
Legenda (General Series) 1 June 2012

  • ‘A series of Dante symposia organized by Manuele Gragnolati and colleagues over the past few years have brought youthful vitality to an ancient field... There is much careful scholarship and thoughtful reading in this book, which should attract Dante and medieval studies scholars alike, particularly those interested in contemporary critical approaches to medieval texts.’ — Gary Cestaro, Renaissance Quarterly 66.1 (Spring 2013), 323-24
  • ‘As well as offering several original contributions on this fundamental aspect of Dante’s work, it seeks to situate the Florentine writer more effectively within the broader spectrum of medieval culture and to establish greater intellectual exchange between Dante scholars and those from other disciplines.’ — unsigned notice, Studi Medievali 53.2 (2012), 1029-30
  • ‘The essays not only present a rich view of contemporary thinking on medieval notions and expressions of desire but address some of the most compelling issues of modern Dante and medieval scholarship... desire in the medieval context emerges as an issue to be expressed through the unique capabilities of poetry, an experience to be physically, spiritually, and emotionally undergone, and, ultimately, a state to be manifested in the very act of writing.’ — Ruth Chester, Modern Language Review 109.1, January 2014, 221-22 (full text online)
  • ‘This is a well-conceived collection, with an excellent bibliography, that will be valuable both for Dante scholars and every medievalist or early modernist with an interest in topics related to desire: the body, perception, memory, mysticism, just to name a few. The volume achieves a rare balance of interdisciplinarity and cohesiveness, bringing together approaches to the text as diverse as queer theory and translation studies, but maintaining a common intent to map desire as a hermeneutic tool in Dante studies and beyond.’ — Eleonora Stoppino, Speculum 89.3, 2014, 773-74
  • ‘This is a very useful source for Dante scholars, because it offers original and innovative contributions on the many-sided aspects of desire. [...] It is also a very valuable study for any scholar interested in the topic on a comparative or interdisciplinary level and seeks to illustrate how the current discourse on desire can apply to Dante and the medieval world.’ — Niccolino Applauso, Italica 90.4, Winter 2013
  • ‘This interesting interdisciplinary collection contributes significantly to our growing understanding of desire in the Middle Ages.’ — Beatrice Priest, Medium Aevum 82.2, 2013
  • ‘Il punto di forza di questo volume risiede a mio avviso nell'impiego di originali modelli d'analisi dell'opera dell'Alighieri che, offrendo percorsi inediti e accostamenti seppur talora arditi, hanno il pregio di costituire un effervescente contributo al panorama degli studi danteschi. Proprio la materia d'analisi, il desiderio, che si pone come proteiforme agente di cambiamento, l'insieme di questi articoli non manchera' di stimolare nuovi indirizzi di ricerca.’ — Gabriella Addivinola, L'Alighieri 42, 2013

England and the Avignon Popes: The Practice of Diplomacy in Late Medieval Europe
Karsten Plöger
Legenda (General Series) 4 February 2005

  • Ralf Lützelschwab, Quellen und Forschungen aus Italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken 86, 2006, 814-16
  • Medioevo Latino XXVIII, July 2007, 1153)
  • ‘From the perspective of communication developments, the present book produces important insights into the many challenges with which medieval diplomacy had to cope.’ — Sophia Menache, The Medieval Review February 2007
  • ‘A thorough and enlightening study of how diplomacy was conducted between the two courts at a time when war, plague, and the activities of unemployed mercenaries made travel between Westminster and Avignon dangerous and exacting, while the reception enjoyed by envoys was likely to be frosty at best.’ — Norman Housley, Speculum April 2006
  • Stefan White, Francia-Recensio 2008.3

Italy in Crisis: 1494
Edited by Jane Everson and Diego Zancani
Legenda (General Series) 1 November 2000

  • ‘The eight chapters are prefaced by a stimulating introduction, and rounded off by a helpful index: in all a splendid collection of original and scholarly essays.’ — Paul Diffley, Italian Studies LVII, 2002, 167-8
  • notice, The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies 62, 2000, 395

Laughter and Narrative in the Later Middle Ages: German Comic Tales c. 1350-1525
Sebastian Coxon
Legenda (General Series) 25 July 2008

  • ‘This is the first sustained study of the German branch of the genre of comic verse narratives (maeren) which was hugely popular across Europe in the late Middle Ages... an impressively learned study, based on a huge corpus of primary and secondary texts. A wealth of information on laughter, humour and the reception of late-medieval literature is waiting to be unearthed here.’ — unsigned, Forum for Modern Language Studies 46.1, January 2010, 110
  • ‘An excellent study that undoubtedly advances our understanding of laughter and its functions in the past.’ — Sophia Menache, The Medieval Review September 2009
  • ‘Copious footnotes and an extensive bibliography document the author's mastery of the critical literature, and summaries of the German-language scholarship, as well as English translations of textual passages, make this study easily accessible to those with no knowledge of German. Coxon's volume offers a detailed and subtle analysis of a limited corpus that provides a significant context for future scholarship on the culture of laughter in the middle ages.’ — Thomas Kerth, Monatshefte 101.3, 2009, 410-12
  • ‘This is the fullest study of the German comic maere to have appeared in a long time, and is based on an impressively wide corpus of sources as well as background reading. There is a wealth of intriguing new information here that deserves further exploration - how the Church’s suspicion of laughter (Jesus never laughed!) was negotiated in these stories; that face and hair were the most frequently attacked body parts here; or that the best jokes were on millers and charcoal-burners.’ — Bettina Bildhauer, Modern Language Review 105.2, 2010, 583-84 (full text online)
  • ‘Si accennna poi al rapporto fra riso e letteratura, sottolineando il fatto che la letteratura medievale è, nel suo complesso, una fonte di enorme importanza per la storia del riso.’ — unsigned notice, Medioevo Latino XXXI, 2010, 535-36
  • ‘Unsigned notice’Germanistik 51.1-2, 2010, 234)
  • ‘As the first comprehensive study of late-medieval German comic tales, this study is a useful resource for medievalists... Scholars will appreciate the comprehensive references to key studies by other Germanists, and less adept readers of Middle High German will value the excellent translations.’ — Lisa Perfetti, Speculum 85.3, 2010, 658-60
  • ‘Gerade dort, wo er tatsächlich eng entlang seiner Referenztexte argumentiert, gelingen Coxon zahlreiche aufschlussreiche Beobachtungen. An diese Ergebnisse Coxons werden bei der Erforschung deutschsprachiger Versnovellen des Spätmittelalters wohl noch viele Untersuchungen (aus hoffentlich diversen Fachdisziplinen) anschließen können.’ — Matthias Kirchhoff, Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch 2010, 422-24

Metaphor in Dante
David Gibbons
Legenda (General Series) 1 December 2002

  • ‘David Gibbon's book is a fascinating and subtle investigation of Dante's dazzling and experimental use of metaphors in the Divine Comedy. ... an important and notewhorty contribution to the understanding of Dante's use, creation, and renewal of the poetic language.’ — Paola Nasti, Modern Language Review 100.1, 2005, 229-30 (full text online)
  • ‘Not only is Gibbons alert to the complexity of the question generally - at once historical, hermeneutical, dialectical, and literary-aesthetic in kind - but his analysis of the texts he invokes is both sensitive and illuminating as regards the variety of Dante's imagery and its functionality within the poem as a whole.’ — John Took, Italian Studies Volume LIX, 2004, 153-4

The Multilingual Muse: Transcultural Poetics in the Burgundian Netherlands
Edited by Adrian Armstrong and Elsa Strietman
Legenda (General Series) 1 November 2017

  • ‘This forward-thinking collection is part of an emerging and significant trend towards analysing medieval literature in the multilingual context in which it was written... this collection has a much wider significance beyond this geographical setting insofar as it provides a splendid model for future research into the multilingualism of medieval literature.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 55.2, April 2019, 247-48 (full text online)
  • ‘Through the viewpoint of transcultural exchange, and by giving voice to cases in their contemporary contexts, the editors successfully present an enriching new picture of multilingualism in the fifteenth-century Low Countries.’ — Bram Caers, French Studies 73.2, April 2019, 284-85 (full text online)
  • ‘Largely refuses clichés and tired assumptions about translation and other interlingual-literary engagements, preferring instead to turn new ground for specific analyses of less obvious intertextual, interdiscursive, and intermedial contacts. Armstrong and Strietman have gathered a fine collection that puts on display the richly provocative multilingualism of the early modern Low Countries. Anyone interested in early modern literary culture will be delighted by the insights and methods of these fine essays.’ — Anne E. B. Coldiron, Early Modern Low Countries 3.1, 2019, 145–148 (full text online)
  • ‘This essay collection offers an excellent point of entry for reflection and further research on the impressive literature of the Low Countries under the dukes of Burgundy, and shows how the multilingualism and multiculturalism of the region energized and enriched its poetry.’ — unsigned notice, Medium Aevum 88, 2019, 191-92
  • ‘The Multilingual Muse est un ouvrage important qu’il faut saluer. En effet, il éclaire dans le détail la manière dont se forme culturellement, socio-économiquement et même politiquement--malgré notre remarque ci-dessus--un espace commun bilingue au 15e siècle et au début du 16e siècle. Nombre d’enseignements sont à retenir pour l’historien.ne du politique : la nécessité de repenser les modèles de diffusion culturelle et donc idéologique « top-down » pour privilégier des processus en réseaux interpénétrés, et surtout abandonner cette idée issue du 19e siècle, et pourtant encore bien présente chez nombre de collègues, que l’État dynastique tardo-médiéval et renaissant se construirait nécessairement par l’unification linguistique. L’exemple de la mosaïque étatique bourguignonne dément tout à fait ce postulat.’ — Jonathan Dumont, H-France 19, November 2019, 220
  • ‘This is an exciting volume which sheds important light on multilingualism in the world of the Burgundian Netherlands during the late Middle Ages.’ — Albrecht Classen, Mediaevistik 31, 2018, 465-67

The Object and the Cause in the Vulgate Cycle
Miranda Griffin
Legenda (General Series) 13 September 2005

  • ‘One notable quality of the book is its didactic aspect. Griffin takes time to define and explain precisely the complex notions she uses. She states clearly (sometimes excessively so) what she intends to do, balancing presentation of psychoanalytic concepts and examination of the Vulgate Cycle.’ — Michelle Szkilnik, Speculum January 2006, 193-94
  • ‘If we can judge a book by its cover, Miranda Griffin's study wins top accolades: the blue and red of the cover design mimic precisely the prevalent colors of typical 13th-century Arthurian manuscript decorations, while the cover illustration of king dictating to scribe suggests authenticity and accountability both outside and within. Inside, the text is neatly organized into four cleverly titled chapters - see, for example, chapter 4: "Death, Doubles, and (De)composition - along with an Introduction and Conclusion... Her extraction of appropriate examples from the texts of the Vulgate Cycle and application of psychoanalytic theory to these episodes is surrounded by an ample survey of and response to the critical tradition in Arthurian studies.’ — Joan E. McRae, Encomia 28, 2006, 46-47
  • ‘This is a highly accomplished and subtle analysis of the Vulgate Cycle that manages to negotiate successfully between primary material, the critical debates surrounding that material, and psychoanalytic theory. The difficulty of such an enterprise should not be underestimated. Griffin maintains throughout an impressive command of a large corpus... explanations of the psychoanalytic models she deploys are remarkably lucid, well-informed and to-the-point... New, impeccably researched and exciting perspectives on a highly complex corpus of texts.’ — Emma Campbell, The Medieval Review October 2008
  • ‘This stimulating study springs from its author's observation of the striking parallels between psychoanalytic theories of human desire and the centuries-older Vulgate Cycle's complicated narration of the Arthurian Grail quest... The quest for wholeness that marks the Cycle is also, as Griffin cogently observes, paralleled by our own scholarly pursuit of a unified text and comprehensively coherent reading of this multilayered work - a reading that, perhaps despite its author's own intentions, this study quite effectively achieves.’ — Lisa H. Cooper, Arthuriana 16.4, 2006, 88-89
  • ‘The critical encounter between psychoanalytic theory and medieval French literature has produced several stimulating texts in recent years, and Miranda Griffin's study of the thirteenth-century Vulgate Cycle is a welcome addition to the list.’ — Thomas Hinton, French Studies 62.4, 2008, 464-519

Performing Medieval Text
Edited by Ardis Butterfield, Henry Hope and Pauline Souleau
Legenda (General Series) 1 November 2017

  • ‘Collectively, these studies effectively demonstrate the necessity for, and advantage of, an understanding of performance that transcends traditional academic boundaries and the volume, overall, serves as a solid exemplar of how to approach doing so.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 55.2, April 2019, 248 (full text online)
  • ‘An ambitious and wide-ranging exploration of performance in medieval European culture. Recognizing the ‘complex terminological web’ spun round the terms performance and performativity, the volume acknowledges and accepts performance as a ‘contested concept’. It also, importantly, recognizes the historical contingency of performance as an idea... The contributing essays illustrate both the ubiquity of performance in medieval culture and the very different ways it manifests in and through text, itself broadly conceived as manuscript, image, written word, and musical note.’ — Clare Wright, Modern Language Review 114.3, July 2019, 525-526 (full text online)
  • ‘This thought-filled and thought-provoking volume offers a polyphony of perspectives on, and examples of, medieval performance.’ — Blake Gutt, French Studies 73.4, October 2019, 622-23 (full text online)
  • ‘While these essays are likely to be read individually by specialists in their various fields, a reader of the whole volume will be rewarded with an enriched and nuanced understanding of the concepts of “performance” and “text,” and of the explanatory reach of the field of performance studies.’ — Anne Stone, Speculum 96.2, 2021, 482-84

Science and Literature in Italian Culture: From Dante to Calvino
Edited by Pierpaolo Antonello and Simon A. Gilson
Legenda (General Series) 1 June 2004

  • ‘Legenda's elegantly produced volume is all things to all people. It does discuss literature and science, but its miscellany is all the more enjoyable for not being tightly constrained by a potentially dogmatic, even questionable, unifying theme of "L&S".’ — J. R. Woodhouse, Modern Language Review 100.3, 7 July 2005, 845-48 (full text online)
  • Speculum October 2005, 1404)