The volume at hand goes back to a series of lectures held for the Center of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. Centered on momentous works of narration throughout the Middle Ages, the individual contributions each review one particular opus that is considered a part of world literature or a pinnacle of the respective national literature. Although a signficant attempt is made to integrate more literary texts from different regions, the volume’s main focus is Europe.

As a general structure, the anthology is arranged into sections of languages or language regions, beginning with narrations in Greek and Latin (the anonymous Ruodlieb and the epic of Digenis Akritis), while the individual articles all follow a more or less analogical composition, addressing often similar aspects or research questions. Historical context, genesis, tradition, circulation, and the general content of each opus are usually explained in the form of short summaries. Whereas the authors examine signature research issues or research tendencies specific for each narration, such as the implications of the heroic and courtly world in case of the Nibelungenlied or the negotiation of power regarding the tale of Genji monogatari, this common setup guarantees contentual coherence and conciseness. In doing so, the structural arrangement mirrors the overall objective of the volume to show that medieval storytelling is not limited to Europe. By incorporating a brief reflection by the editors on what narrating in the Middle Ages consists of, while outlining potential idiosyncrasies of the respective language regions, both the diversity and the commonness of medieval narrating might have been highlighted even more. Consequently, the anthology would also shed some light on the interdisciplinary question whether and to what extent the chronological designation of the Middle Ages is based on a geographical perspective.

The anthology covers—besides the forementioned Greek and Latin works—Celtic, Germanic, and Romanic literatures and literature of the fourteenth century, as well as literature from Russia, Turkey, China, and Japan. One significant, although known, problem becomes simultanously apparent and is mentioned throughout the short introduction: the problematization of the Middle Ages as an epochal term, respectively the vagueness thereof. While this period encompasses the time from 500 to 1500 BCE in Europe, China and Japan categorize this time according to imperial dynasties and consider the Middle Ages to be the period between 300 and 900 BCE. Furthermore, the corpus of selected oeuvres not only represents the variety of genres, but also profiles the prevalence of languages as well as the specifics of prose and verse during this time.

In total, understanding itself as an extended overview, the volume is worthwhile reading and contains contributions that are meant to be exemplary studies, invigorating further research and follow-up reading. Thus, the anthology addresses students as well as researchers and lecturers in search of incisive summaries on particular literary works.