This collection of essays analyses the publication and reception history of sixteenth-century Iberian books of chivalry in English translation. A comprehensive introduction explains the subject, its importance for the study of early modern fiction writing in general, and the state of Anglo-Spanish literary relations at the time. Contributors consider the impact of Iberian chivalric writing on other contemporary genres – such as native English romance, letter-writing, and chronicle – and explore the influence of translations in English prose fiction from the 1590s to the mid-seventeenth century.
The volume delves into the role of predominant translator Anthony Munday in the literary book market, approaching some of his most representative translations – Amadis, Palmendos, Primaleon of Greece, and Palmerin of England – and examining the contribution of these works to early modern cultural debates on sexuality, marriage, female individualism, colonialism, and religious controversy.