This book investigates adaptations of The Lady of Shalott and Elaine of Astolat in Victorian and post-Victorian popular culture to explore their engagement with medievalism, social constructions of gender, and representations of the role of art in society. Although the figure of Elaine first appeared in medieval texts, including Malory's Le Morte Darthur, Tennyson's poems about the Lady and Elaine drew unprecedented response from musicians, artists, and other authors, whose adaptations in some cases inspired further adaptations. With chapters on music, art, and literature (including parody, young people's literature, and historical fiction and fantasy), this book seeks to trace the evolution of these characters and the ways in which they reinforce or challenge conventional gender roles, represent the present's relationship to the past, and highlight the power of art.

Though firmly rooted in the Middle Ages, Arthurian legend has captivated readers since Caxton and Malory and continues to thrive today. By looking at contemporary reworkings of Arthuriana, this book explores the intersection of popular fiction and feminist discourses in Western society. It examines selected Arthurian novels and short stories by such women writers as Fay Sampson, Mary Stewart, Gillian Bradshaw, and Marion Zimmer Bradley to analyze the textual strategies that articulate feminist ideas. While these texts maintain continuity with established literary traditions through the replication of conventions, their reworking of women's roles encourages readers to engage liberal feminist ideology.

The book first gives an overview of theories of popular fiction, feminism, and reading. It then surveys the medieval texts on which the Arthurian tradition is founded and which the contemporary texts rewrite. The chapters that follow discuss how popular contemporary women writers have reworked Arthurian legend through their narrative strategies and their representation of female character types, such as the royal woman and the magical woman.

This book investigates adaptations of The Lady of Shalott and Elaine of Astolat in Victorian and post-Victorian popular culture to explore their engagement with medievalism, social constructions of gender, and representations of the role of art in society. Although the figure of Elaine first appeared in medieval texts, including Malory's Le Morte Darthur, Tennyson's poems about the Lady and Elaine drew unprecedented response from musicians, artists, and other authors, whose adaptations in some cases inspired further adaptations. With chapters on music, art, and literature (including parody, young people's literature, and historical fiction and fantasy), this book seeks to trace the evolution of these characters and the ways in which they reinforce or challenge conventional gender roles, represent the present's relationship to the past, and highlight the power of art.