Fiction Identity in Medieval France: 43 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Series Number 43)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Revised ed., 8/21/2008
EAN 9780521026383, ISBN10: 0521026385
Paperback, 320 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm
Language: English
In this study of vernacular French narrative from the twelfth century through the later Middle Ages, first published in 2000, Donald Maddox considers the construction of identity in a wide range of fictions. He focuses on crucial encounters, widespread in medieval literature, in which characters are informed about fundamental aspects of their own circumstances and selfhood. These always arresting and highly significant moments of 'specular' encounter are examined in numerous Old and Middle French romances, hagiographic texts, epics and brief narratives. Maddox discloses the key role of identity in an original reading of the Lais of Marie de France as a unified collection, as well as in Arthurian literature, fictions of the courtly tryst, genealogies and medieval family romance. The study offers many new perspectives on the poetic and cultural implications of identity as an imaginary construct during the long formative period of French literature.
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction
identity and encounter in medieval literature
1. The specular encounter in fictions of reciprocity
the Lais of Marie de France
2. The specular encounter in Arthurian Romance
3. From encounter to specular encounter in fictions of the courtly tryst
4. The specular encounter in fictions of lineage
5. Afterword
the specular encounter in perspective
Appendix
Notes
Select bibliography
Index.