Helen Waddell’s Peter Abelard (1933) is a beautifully crafted and meticulously researched novel about the controversial twelfth-century teacher and his lover, the learned Heloise. This annotated edition introduces and identifies the extensive literary and historical sources that Waddell incorporated into its action and dialogue. This best-seller combines a powerful love story with Abelard’s redemptive theology and Heloise’s questioning mind. The annotations and introduction, as well as supplementary material relating to its composition, situate the novel within a wider context of on-going debate in the twentieth century about the authenticity and interpretation of the letters of these famous lovers. This edition is directed at those interested in historical fiction as well as in medieval culture more generally. It brings a largely neglected female novelist of the early twentieth century to public attention, relevant to students, academics, and general readers alike.
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