Dr Olivia Robinson's new book 'Contest, Translation, and the Chaucerian Text' has been published by Brepols Publishers.

Olivia’s work sheds new light on the transmission of texts in the medieval period by drawing into dialogue a study of medieval translation between English and French, with questions concerning the Chaucerian canon and its reception. 

Book cover of Liv Robinson's Contest, Translation, and the Chaucerian Text

The book takes as a focus point three Middle English translations of French-language works — The Romaunt of the Rose, the Belle Dame Sans Mercy, and An ABC to the Virgin — and assesses the way in which these works respond to and reconfigure their source material, while at the same time questioning how the connection of these translations with Chaucer has influenced our critical understanding of them.

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Olivia Robinson is a Lecturer in Late Medieval Literature in the Department of English Literature. Her work focuses on Anglo-French literary cultures and on medieval theatre, particularly theatre copied and performed by medieval women.  

She is currently working on a research project on drama in medieval women’s religious houses. The Medieval Convent Drama Project, which is fully funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, explores the theatrical cultures and activities of medieval nuns in England, Northern France and Burgundy.