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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.
Offering the first comprehensive study of Guillaume de Machaut’s vast corpus of text and music, the 18 essays in this collection explore the author’s engagement with the ethical, political, and aesthetic concerns of his time. Building on interdisciplinary interest in Machaut, this collection broadens discussion of his work by exploring overlapping interests in his poetry and music; addressing lesser-studied writings; offering fresh perspectives on lyric, authorial voice, and performance; and engaging more critically with his reception by medieval bookmakers, modern editors, and the music industry. The result is a promising map for future research in the field that will be of interest to students and specialists alike.
This volume, the first to address Philippe Mézières (1327-1405) and his legacy comprehensively since 1896, gathers twenty-two contributions shedding new light on Philippe’s literary, political, and mystical writings, and places him in the context of his age and his contemporaries.
The role of poetry in the transmission and shaping of knowledge in late medieval France.
A study of the immensely popular "lives" of Christ and the Virgin in medieval France.
Most widely read today as the author of the "Heptaméron," Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549) was known in her lifetime as a deeply religious, mystical poet. Sister of the King of France and wife of the King of Navarre, her deeds and writings expressed and sought to promote a living faith in Christ, based on the gospels, and a vision for the renewal and reform of the Church in line with the teachings of French Evangelicals such as Lefèvre d’Étaples, Guillaume Briçonnet, and Gérard Roussel. In this volume, eleven eminent scholars offer new appreciations of Marguerite’s extraordinary life and rich and diverse literary œuvre, including, in addition to her short-story collection, dialogues, mirror poems, plays, songs, and an allegorical prison narrative. Contributors include, along with the editors, Philip Ford, Isabelle Garnier, Jean-Marie Le Gall, Reinier Leushuis, Jan Miernowski, Olivier Millet, Isabelle Pantin, Jonathan A. Reid, and Cynthia Skenazi.
Written in 1456 and purporting to be the biography of the actual fourteenth-century knight of its title, Jean de Saintré has been called the first modern novel in French and one of the first historical novels in any language. Taken in hand at the age of thirteen by an older and much more experienced lady, Madame des Belles Cousines, the youth grows into an accomplished knight, winning numerous tournaments and even leading a crusade against the infidels for the love of Madame. When he reaches maturity, Jean starts to rebel against Madame's domination by seeking out chivalric adventures on his own. She storms off to her country estates and takes up with the burly abbot of a nearby monastery. ...
Examining the clandestine and subversive activities of Algerian nationalists in West Germany and Europe, Mathilde Von Bulow sheds new light on the extent to which FLN activities and French counter-measures impacted the conflict in Algeria and the politics of the global Cold War.
Treatments of synesthesia in the arts and humanities generally assume a clear distinction between the neurological condition and the literary device. Synesthetes’ descriptions of colors seen in connection with music, for example, are thought to differ fundamentally from common expressions that rely on transpositions across sensory dimensions (“bright vowels”). This has not always been the case. The distinction emerged over the course of the twentieth century, as scientists sought to constitute “synesthesia” as a legitimate object of modern science. On the Colors of Vowels investigates the ambiguity of visual descriptions of vowels across a wide range of disciplines, casting several...
One of the most important medieval authors studied in historical and literary context. Chrétien de Troyes is arguably the creator of Arthurian romance, and it is on his work that later writers have based their interpretations. This book offers both crucial information on, and a comprehensive coverage of, all aspectsof the work of Chrétien de Troyes - the literary and historical background, patronage, his influence on other writers, manuscripts and editions of his work and, at the heart of the volume, major essays on his themes, techniques and artistic achievements in each of his compositions; the contributions, all from leading experts in Chrétien and related studies, have been commission...