Outsiders - 9780268031121

OutsidersThe Humanity and Inhumanity of Giants in Medieval French Prose Romance\nAuthor(s): Sylvia Huot\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: University of Notre Dame Press, United States\nImprint: University of Notre Dame Press\nISBN-13: 9780268031121, 978-0268031121\nSynopsis\nGiants are a ubiquitous feature of medieval romance. As remnants of a British prehistory prior to the civilization established, according to the Historium regum Britannie, by Brutus and his Trojan followers, giants are permanently at odds with the chivalric culture of the romance world. Whether they are portrayed as brute savages or as tyrannical pagan lords, giants serve as a limit against which the chivalric hero can measure himself. In Outsiders: The Humanity and Inhumanity of Giants in Medieval French Prose Romance, Sylvia Huot argues that the presence of giants allows for fantasies of ethnic and cultural conflict and conquest, and for the presentationand suppressionof alternative narrative and historical trajec.