First English translation of an important twelfth-century romance, giving an account of the Trojan war and its consequences. Winner of the 2018 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award Benoit de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie, dating to around 1165, is, along with the Roman de Thebes and the Roman d'Eneas, one of the three"romances of antiquity" (romans d'antiquite). These romances launched the plots, themes and structures of the genre, then blossoming in the hands of authors such as Chretien de Troyes. As an account of the Trojan War, Benoit's work is of necessity a poem about war and its causes, how it was fought and what its consequences were for the combatants. But the author's choice of the octosyllabic rhyming couplet, his fondness for description, his abilityto recount the intensity of personal struggles, and above all his fascination with the trials and tribulations of Love, which affect some of the work's most prominent warriors (among them Paris and his love for Helen, and Troilusand his love for Briseida), all combine to fashion this romance - in which events from long ago are presented as a reflection of the poet's own feudal and courtly worlds. This translation, the first into English, aims to bring the poem and the author to a wider audience. It is accompanied by an introduction and notes. Glyn S. Burgess is Emeritus Professor of French at the University of Liverpool; Douglas Kelly is Emeritus Professor of French and Medieval Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

About the Author
GLYN S. BURGESS is Emeritus Professor of French at the University of Liverpool. DOUGLAS KELLY is Emeritus Professor of French and Medieval Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Reviews
Winner of the 2018 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award * . *
[A] clear and accessible translation of Benoit's twelfth-century Roman de Troie that will serve as the standard English-language version of the medieval French text for the foreseeable future. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *
The translators, eminent medievalists both, have crafted a compelling narrative that is scrupulously faithful to the original and perhaps even more vivid and powerful . . . The translators' expertise is evident in every component of the book-not only their translation, but also the dense introduction. Essential. * CHOICE *
The work of G. S. Burgess and D. Kelly deserves to be praised, as much for its remarkable quality as for the immense work required to translate a novel about thirty thousand words long! * CAHIERS DE CIVILISATION MEDIEVALE *
In this first-ever English translation, Glyn Burgess and Douglas Kelly expertly summarize what Benoit did with his originals [...] and offer a helpful overview and outline of the narrative [...] along with an appendix discussing key narrative terms, and indexes to names and places. * PARERGON *



Book Information
ISBN 9781843844693
Author Glyn S. Burgess
Format Hardback
Page Count 486
Imprint D.S. Brewer
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Weight(grams) 1g