Blindness and Therapy in Late Medieval French and Italian Poetry

Blindness and Therapy in Late Medieval French and Italian Poetry

Author: Julie Singer

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 1843842726

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An examination of the ways in which late medieval lyric poetry can be seen to engage with contemporary medical theory. This book argues that late medieval love poets, from Petrarch to Machaut and Charles d'Orléans, exploit scientific models as a broad framework within which to redefine the limits of the lyric subject and his body. Just as humoraltheory depends upon principles of likes and contraries in order to heal, poetry makes possible a parallel therapeutic system in which verbal oppositions and substitutions counter or rewrite received medical wisdom. The specific case of blindness, a disability that according to the theories of love that predominated in the late medieval West foreclosed the possibility of love, serves as a laboratory in which to explore poets' circumvention of the logical limits of contemporary medical theory. Reclaiming the power of remedy from physicians, these late medieval French and Italian poets prompt us to rethink not only the relationship between scientific and literary authority at the close of the middle ages, but, more broadly speaking, the very notion of therapy. Julie Singer is Assistant Professor of French at Washington University, St Louis.


The Smile of Truth

The Smile of Truth

Author: Annette H. Tomarken

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-07-14

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1400860970

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To teach the truth smilingly was, during the Renaissance, a frequently expressed goal among prose writers and poets such as Erasmus, Berni, Ronsard, Rabelais, and du Bellay, who adopted an ironic posture within their mock encomia in order to refer the reader beyond the realm of the literary structure. In this book Annette Tomarken reconstructs the history of the classical satirical eulogy as it was revived, expanded, and finally adapted to new purposes in Renaissance literature. Tracing the development of this type of paradox from its classic roots through the Neo-Latin, Italian, and French mock encomia, Tomarken examines its various forms in the Renaissance, including the Pliade "hymne-blason," the mock epitaph, and the stage "harangue." Her book provides a new context for such works as In Praise of Folly and for such literary passages as Rabelais's praise of debts and Falstaff's denunciation of honor. Dividing the eulogies into three groups--praises of vices, disease, and animals and insects--Tomarken brings humor as well as close textual analysis to her study. She finds that the practitioners of the form were aware of its history and that such self-awareness became an integral part of the works themselves. An increased sensitivity to the literary structure and history of the paradoxical encomium, Tomarken stresses, first requires and then enriches our understanding of the genre's relationship to the extra-literary domain. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Literature and Law in the Middle Ages

Literature and Law in the Middle Ages

Author: John A. Alford

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-07-17

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 0429575521

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Originally published in 1984, Literature and Law in the Middle Ages is a comprehensive bibliography on the subject of literature and law in the Middle Ages. The collection was composed with the notion that early society regarded literature, law and religion from the same single point of view. It discusses how for many medieval poets, their art existed primarily to enforce obedience to God and king and suggests that society viewed law as a chief instrument of the divine will in human affairs. The book’s comprehensive introduction argues that eventually, these areas of diverged and became separate; this bibliography covers the broad period of the Middle Ages from the 5th to the 15th century and examines this period of transition during which, the process was not yet complete. This bibliography will be vital resource for those studying medieval studies, both in literature and history.


Ambivalent Conventions

Ambivalent Conventions

Author: Anne Elizabeth Cobby

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2023-12-18

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 9004648399

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Much work has already been done on the conventions and formulae of Old French literature, particularly epic literature, and on parody in the French Middle Ages. This book links these approaches, widens the concept of 'formula', and aims to show that certain authors, far from being enslaved by the conventions within which they worked, were conscious of them and could master them with sufficient independence to exploit them for calculated literary effect, and in particular for parody. It studies the fabliaux, Aucassin et Nicolette and Le Pèlerinage de Charlemagne, texts in which formulae play a varied and subtle part. In the fabliaux we find that formulae borrowed from serious literature add parodic depth to the often simple humour of these tales, but that the genre as a whole is not essentially parodic. Aucassin et Nicolette uses conventions to arouse expectations which may or may not be satisfied; parody proves to be fundamental to this work. The approach shows its full potential when applied to Le Pèlerinage de Charlemagne; study of this text's use of formulae of the epic and romance traditions reveals a high degree of complexity and a finely nuanced parody.


Chrétien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes

Author: Douglas Kelly

Publisher: Tamesis Books

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 600

ISBN-13: 9781855660830

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The supplement to the 1976 original bibliography reflects the expanding scope of modern Chrétien studies, including items from around the world, with the assistance of an international team of scholars. The Supplement builds on and completes the Chrétien de Troyes Bibliography first published in 1976. Together the two volumes constitute the fullest and most complete bibliographical source now available on this major medieval author. Chrétien de Troyes bequeathed a corpus of highly original and widely influential Arthurian romances. Indeed, his direct or indirect influence continued throughout the middle ages and beyond into modern times. The Bibliographypermits students of medieval romance to quickly identify the areas in which Chrétien scholarship has been active. Items are listed under twenty-two topics, with numerous sub-sections under each topic, and cross-references for items that treat more than one of the topics. The broad geographic and linguistic scope of modern Chrétien studies is evident in items not only from western Europe and North America, but also from the growing body of medieval scholarship in eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and Australasia. To ensure accuracy and completeness, the editor has been assisted by scholars competent in the many languages in which Chrétien studies are now published, most notably in Japanese, Welsh, Rumanian, Hungarian and Polish, as well as by other scholars and librarians who generously provided assistance and information in finding items difficult to access.


Andreas Capellanus, Scholasticism, and the Courtly Tradition

Andreas Capellanus, Scholasticism, and the Courtly Tradition

Author: Don A. Monson

Publisher: CUA Press

Published: 2005-11

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 081321419X

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This book, the first study in English devoted entirely to Andreas Capellanus's De Amore, presents a comprehensive inquiry into the influence of scholasticism on the structure and organization of the work, applying methods of medieval philosophy and intellectual history to an important problem in medieval literary studies.