Anders Cullhed (b. 1951) is a professor emeritus in Literary Studies, Stockholm University, a literary critic, and a translator. He has published widely on a rich gamut of topics in premodern literature. His main works remain Quevedo: El instante poético (Zaragoza, 2005), The Shadow of Creusa: Negotiating Fictionality in Late Antique Latin Literature (Berlin, 2015), and a biography of Dante Alighieri (published in Swedish, Stockholm 2021). Among the books he has edited/co-edited are True Lies Worldwide: Fictionality in Global Contexts (Berlin, 2014), Pangs of Love and Longing: Configurations of Desire in Premodern Literature (Newcastle upon Tyne, 2014), and Fiction and Figuration in High and Late Medieval Literature (Rome, 2016). Cullhed was the Swedish initiator and leader of The Northern European Dante Network and served as the President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History, and Antiquities between 2014 and 2020.

• Preface Introduction: Loving God and One’s Neighbour PART I 1. 12th Century: The Great Age of Love 2. Monasterial Pastimes: Baudri and Constance 3. The First Troubadour: The Count of Poitou 4. The Exegete as a Lover: Bernard of Clairvaux 5. No Regrets: Héloïse 6. Vertigo: Bernart de Ventadorn 7. Desire Restrained: Chrétien 8. Both Yes and No: Andrew the Chaplain 9. Passion and Parody: Marie de France 10. Without Further Ado: “The Song of the Rake” 11. The Cleric on the Warpath: Alan of Lille 12. The Condemned: Tristan and Isolde PART II 13. 13th Century: Bliss/Sin 14. ”Where Love Meets Love”: Wolfram 15. Deconstruction: Cavalcanti 16. From Florence to Paradise: Dante 17. Plucking the Rose: From Guillaume to Jean PART III 18. 14th and 15th Centuries: Godforsaken Passions 19. “Into a Luminous Abyss”: Petrarch 20. The Angel’s Lost Wings: Boccaccio 21. The Mad Love of the World: Archpriest Juan Ruiz 22. Love and Love Not... Chaucer 23. Up for Debate: Christine de Pizan 24. Love’s Wasteland: Malory Conclusion Appendix: Quotations in Their Original Languages Bibliography Index of Names