Middle English Romances: Authoritative Texs, Sources and Backgrounds, Criticism, selected and ed. by Stephen H. A. Shepherd. 2nd ed. A Norton Critical Edition. New York: W. W. Norton, 2023 (orig. 1995), xxix, 825 pp.

The second edition of this hefty tome in paperback is a good indicator that research and teaching of Middle English literature have gone through profound changes, moving well beyond the ‘classical’ canon of Langland, Chaucer and Hoccleve. Late medieval English romances receive increasing attention, and this for good reasons. In contrast to many other similar anthologies, Stephen H. A. Shepherd, Professor of English at Loyola Marymount University, presents only complete works, based on a critical edition of the relevant manuscript version. This makes the present edition also highly useful for research, although the primary purpose of this book and the entire series aims to make this literature more accessible for student readers. This is demonstrated through the heavy glossing on the side of the text, offering practical translations, and an extensive apparatus at the bottom. The first note always gives the source of the respective text, such as in the case of