ROBERTA L. KRUEGER, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Romance. Cambridge Companions to Literature Series Vol. 41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, Pp. xix, 190. ISBN: 0-511-55342-3, (hard cover); 0-521-55687-2, (p/b). $70, $25.99. Despite the broad scope of this volume, Arthurian scholars will find much of interest, as the vast majority of the essays consider Arthurian texts and many focus on them. Indeed, the only essay that does not touch on Arthurian matters is Baswell's On the Romances of Antiquity.' Kruegcr has assembled a stellar line-up of scholars from the UK and USA as contributors. Overall the volume offers an excellent study of various facets of medieval Romance and, for the most part, the individual essays are cogent and eminently readable; they are often insightful and thought-provoking as well. The volume should be in every university library. My caveats to this glowing review are not trivial, but neither do they obviate the volume's worth. The volume opens with an introductory essay by the editor and then offers fifteen essays divided into three sections. The first section, Origins and Contexts,' contains Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner's examination of the 'shape' of French romance; Christopher Baswell's article on the romances of Antiquity, where he considers not only the Eneas, Troie, and Thebes but also the Alexander romances; Simon Gaunt's look at Old French romance's inter-generic relationships; and Sylvia Huot's comparative study of the manuscript contexts of French and German romances. The second section, entitled 'European Romance and Medieval Society: Issues for Debate' opens with Sarah Kay writing authoritatively on 'Courts, Clerics and Courtly Love.' Next, Richard Kaeuper examines chivalry's relation to violence, religion, and politics. Jeff Rider provides a survey of the Other worlds' of romance, while Roberta Krueger and Sheila Fisher examine issues of gender, Krucgcr looking primarily at Old French verse romance through the lens of the Roman de Silence and Fisher focusing exclusively on Chaucer, the Gawain-poet, and Malory. Part Three widens the focus, with essays by Ann Marie Rasmussen on German romance, F. Regina Paslci on Italian romance, and Marina S. Brownlee on Spanish romance up to Cervantes. This section also contains Norris Lacy's survey of French prose romance through the centuries, and two essays on Middle English texts: Thomas Hahn on the figure of Gawain in popular romance and Felicity Riddy on the household context for family romances. The volume concludes with a chronology of romances, a collective bibliography of editions and translations, and an index. As the preceding list makes evident, studies focused on French and to a somewhat lesser degree Middle English romance form the heart of this book. This is a source of strength, for the depth offers readers not only an introduction to the subject but access to elements of major critical issues. However, it is regrettable that romance in other languages receives relatively short shrift, and comparative approaches are mostly absent. One of the most interesting aspects of the volume is the interplay between articles, even though there is no overt cross-referencing. The contributions grapple repeatedly with the social and ideological aspects of romance, highlighting the genre's ability and inclination to question the ethos and values of chivalry and the noble societies that promoted it. As Psaki puts it succinctly: The romances are fundamentally a search for a working definition of chivalric virtue, and each offers different answers' (p. 2007). Similarly, Krueger concludes: 'Courtly romance opened up a discursive space. …