The Cambridge Companion to Medieval French Literature

by Simon Gaunt (Editor), Sarah Kay (Editor)

Medieval French literature encompasses 450 years of literary output in Old and Middle French, mostly produced in Northern France and England. These texts, including courtly lyrics, prose and verse romances, dits amoureux and plays, proved hugely influential for other European literary traditions in the medieval period and beyond. This Companion offers a wide-ranging and stimulating guide to literature composed in medieval French from its beginnings in the ninth century until the Renaissance. The essays are grounded in detailed analysis of canonical texts and authors such as the Chanson de Roland, the Roman de la Rose, Villon's Testament, Chrétien de Troyes, Machaut, Christine de Pisan and the Tristan romances. Featuring a chronology and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal companion for students and scholars in other fields wishing to discover the riches of the French medieval tradition.

Genres: Essays, Academic

302 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Gaunt

Reviews

[Adam McPhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good essays on Roland, Francois Villon, Romance of the Rose, Vulgate Cycle/Chretien de Troyes, satire, development of theatre, genre, feudalism, the other (by exploring stories about fairies, giants, saracens, melusine, etc). Very cool.

[Dewi Rhys-jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the blurb: "Medieval French literature encompasses 450 years of literary output in Old and Middle French, mostly produced in Northern France and England. These texts, including courtly lyrics, prose and verse romances, dits amoureux and plays, proved hugely influential for other European literary traditions in the medieval period and beyond. This Companion offers a wide-ranging and stimulating guide to literature composed in medieval French from its beginnings in the ninth century until the Renaissance. The essays are grounded in detailed analysis of canonical texts and authors such as the Chanson de Roland, the Roman de la Rose, Villon's Testament, Chrétien de Troyes, Machaut, Christine de Pisan and the Tristan romances. Featuring a chronology and suggestions for further reading, this is the ideal companion for students and scholars in other fields wishing to discover the riches of the French medieval tradition."
A thoroughly enjoyable read.

[Xander Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cambridge companion to medieval French literature is a nice quick collection of essays and evaluations detailing different overviews within the corpus that it describes. Though I am new to the majority of “authors” and stories detailed within, I am rather familiar with the British renditions of Arthurian legend, but less so with the French versions.

I had no idea that so many of the compilations of medieval literature are so varied and different, and that there is no exact “definitive” editions of any one “story”. Not only is the definition messy, but the whole subject of authorship and authenticity seem to be riddled with problems in classification, representation, and distribution, both in medieval times and contemporary. I particularly liked the last chapter on the other and alterity.