I nformed by postcolonial and feminist/gender theory, Geraldine Heng's Empire of Magic identifies "patterns of desire [.. .] and economies of pleasure" in medieval English romance and culture. Arising in response to a complex intersection of history, politics, and location, romance narrative constitutes, for Heng, an important element in late medieval England's cultural productions of race and religion, class and gender distinctions, and national and individual identities. In other words, her argument links romance with global, regional/ "national," and local sites of cultural production. The argument is bold, sweeping, and complex; it is made manageable by Heng's choice to focus each chapter on a different representative text, and it is strengthened by prodigious scholarship (including 159 pages of valuable endnotes). Although she explores many connections between romance narrative and historical context, her argument focuses most intensely on cannibalism, the crusades, Constantinople, encounters between the English and various "monstrous" others, and links between masculinity, family, femininity, and early nation formation.
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