Martorell's Tirant Lo Blanch: A Program for Military and Social Reform in Fifteenth-Century Christendom

This first critical analysis of the Catalan novel of chivalry, Tirant lo Blanch (1490), elucidates the sophisticated plan that lies behind its composition. By breaking down the 487-chapter story into two fundamental narrative threads—the military and erotic exploits of the hero—Aylward reveals the two-pronged narrative scheme that supports Martorell's fast-paced and amusing account of romance and political intrigue in fifteenth-century Constantinople.