Fools' Plays
A study of satire in the sottie

Dr Arden analyses the sottie, a short comical play, which flourished in France from about 1440 to 1560.

Heather Arden (Author)

9780521158947, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 14 April 2011

226 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.3 cm, 0.29 kg

The sottie was a short, comical play which flourished in France from about 1440 to 1560. Although a vital part of late medieval popular culture, this dramatic genre has received scant critical attention. In this study, Dr Arden adds to our understanding of the sottie by examining in detail the subjects satirised in the plays, the dramatic structure underlying this satire, the attitudes expressed by the plays, and their social function in late medieval France. Through an approach combining critical readings of the texts with historical study of class structure and its evolution in this period, she offers a fresh interpretation of a remarkable type of satire. In addition to analysing the undercurrent of class conflict in late medieval theatre, Dr Arden clarifies lower-class values of the period and suggests a reason for the widespread fascination with folly and the fool in the late Middle Ages.

Preface
Introduction
1. The plays
2. The origins and players of the sottie
3. The sottie as drama
4. Satire in the sottie
5. The theme of social hierarchy in the sottie
6. The importance of folly in the sottie
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG]