Huot (medieval French literature, Pembroke College, Cambridge) tackles the enigmatic thirteenth-century poem Roman de la Rose. Begun by one author and completed by another, it has been considered pornography, parody, religious metaphor and a misogynistic disorganized attempt at romance. While she touches on the ongoing debates, Huot is more interested in the classical sources of the poem, particularly Ovid and Boethius. She indicates that many of the references are not cited so that only the most educated of contemporary readers would have been able to penetrate the layers of meaning, particularly those of the second author, Jean de Meung. It is an interesting textual analysis that adds to the exploration of the poem, as Huot intends. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)