Fictions of Identity in Medieval France

This study, first published in 2000, considers the construction of identity in a range of Medieval French fictions.

Donald Maddox (Author)

9780521026383, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 April 2006

320 pages
22.7 x 15.1 x 1.8 cm, 0.489 kg

'… an important book that sheds new light on a significant recurring feature in some much-discussed texts as well as in some that have received less critical attention … well worth careful examination.' Medium Aevum

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.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literary studies: general [DSB]