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Gallica
Marie de France: A Critical Companion
This new companion to the works of Marie de France offers fresh insights into the standard critical debates.
Marie de France is the author of some of the most influential and important works to survive from the middle ages; arguably best-known for her Lais, she also translated Aesop's Fables (the Ysopë), and wrote the Espurgatoire seint Patriz (St Patrick's Purgatory), based on a Latin text. The aim of this Companion is both to provide information on what can be gleaned of her life, and on her poetry, and to rethink standard questions of interpretation, through topics with special relevance to medieval literature and culture. The variety of perspectives used highlights both the unity of Marie's oeuvre and the distinctiveness of the individual texts.
Aftersituating her writings in their Anglo-Norman political, linguistic, and literary context, this volume considers her treatment of questions of literary composition in relation to the circulation, transmission, and interpretation ofher works. Her social and historical engagements are illuminated by the prominence of feudal vocabulary, while her representation of movement across different geographical and imaginary spaces opens a window on plot construction.Repetition and variation are considered as a narrative technique within Marie's work, and as a cultural practice linking her texts to a network of twelfth-century textual traditions. The Conclusion, on the posterity of her oeuvre, combines a consideration of manuscript context with the ways in which later authors rewrote Marie's works.
Sharon Kinoshita is Professor of Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz; Peggy McCracken is Professor of French, Women's Studies, and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Marie de France is the author of some of the most influential and important works to survive from the middle ages; arguably best-known for her Lais, she also translated Aesop's Fables (the Ysopë), and wrote the Espurgatoire seint Patriz (St Patrick's Purgatory), based on a Latin text. The aim of this Companion is both to provide information on what can be gleaned of her life, and on her poetry, and to rethink standard questions of interpretation, through topics with special relevance to medieval literature and culture. The variety of perspectives used highlights both the unity of Marie's oeuvre and the distinctiveness of the individual texts.
Aftersituating her writings in their Anglo-Norman political, linguistic, and literary context, this volume considers her treatment of questions of literary composition in relation to the circulation, transmission, and interpretation ofher works. Her social and historical engagements are illuminated by the prominence of feudal vocabulary, while her representation of movement across different geographical and imaginary spaces opens a window on plot construction.Repetition and variation are considered as a narrative technique within Marie's work, and as a cultural practice linking her texts to a network of twelfth-century textual traditions. The Conclusion, on the posterity of her oeuvre, combines a consideration of manuscript context with the ways in which later authors rewrote Marie's works.
Sharon Kinoshita is Professor of Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz; Peggy McCracken is Professor of French, Women's Studies, and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
240 pages, Paperback
First published April 19, 2012
9 people want to read
About the author
Sharon Kinoshita
12 books2 followersSharon Kinoshita is Professor of Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).
Her work is primarily focused in Medieval Mediterranean Studies. She is co-Director of the UCSC Center for Mediterranean Studies as well as the University of California Multicampus Research Project Initiative in Mediterranean Studies (http://mediterraneanseminar.org).
Research areas:
Old French Literature
The Medieval Culture of Empire
Vernacular French representations
Medieval Mediterranean Literature
Chretien de Troyes
Marie de France
Marco Polo
Her work is primarily focused in Medieval Mediterranean Studies. She is co-Director of the UCSC Center for Mediterranean Studies as well as the University of California Multicampus Research Project Initiative in Mediterranean Studies (http://mediterraneanseminar.org).
Research areas:
Old French Literature
The Medieval Culture of Empire
Vernacular French representations
Medieval Mediterranean Literature
Chretien de Troyes
Marie de France
Marco Polo
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 27, 2021
Welcome to my Ted Talk! Today’s topic is: « is it okay to fancy an 870 year old translator? ». Listen on to find out!
Not AMAZING if you’ve already studied her, but nice if you’re getting started and have already read her canon
Not AMAZING if you’ve already studied her, but nice if you’re getting started and have already read her canon
January 29, 2018
I disagree with much of the readings of the fables, but this is a good basic introduction for any scholar of Marie de France's works.
August 2, 2014
This would be a fantastic introduction to Marie's work for someone who hasn't studied her much, but there is little here that will seem new to anyone who has worked with her lais and other texts for several years.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews