ABSTRACT
Inspired by medieval history, culture, and literature, the genre of fantasy contributes to the collective non-specialist vision of the medieval, often oscillating between two competing paradigms of ‘romantic’ and ‘gothic’ Middle Ages. More often than not fantasy novels are set in quasi-medieval feudal worlds and feature characters and plots reminiscent of medieval epic and romance. Predominantly grounded in Anglo-centric patterns, these imaginary worlds often depict Middle Ages as a time of ethnically and religiously uniform communities, coding its heroes as white and equating otherness with primitive and barbarous non-human races. This essay aims to examine the representation of alterity in Guy Gavriel Kay’s Lions of Al-Rassan (1995) – a historical fantasy novel which combines the fantastic and the mimetic to challenge many clichés related to the Middle Ages. Inspired by medieval Iberia, the novel reimagines Christian, Muslim, and Jewish influences of al-Andalus, reclaiming them for popular imagination. Understanding popular medievalism as a form of cultural memory, the essay looks closely at the inspirations behind The Lions of Al-Rassan, with the focus of the essay resting upon themes related to convivencia, Reconquista, and the quasi-mythical figure of El Cid as important components of Spanish cultural memory. Situating Kay’s novel in this context, the essay examines how it resonates with contemporary political and ideological concerns and how it might affect the popular readers’ perception of the Middle Ages.
