Reassessing the Heroine in Medieval French Literature

"These innovative essays are outstanding because they examine well-known works and genres in new ways, and they revise and revitalize our thinking about them."—Rupert T. Pickens, University of Kentucky

These essays explore the various manifestations of the heroine in medieval French literature and her multiple relationships with discourse, both medieval and modern. From a discussion of 12th-century saints’ lives to an examination of 15th-century farce, they span the Middle Ages, both chronologically and generically. Focused yet considering a wide range of texts, they shine new light on the heroine and how she behaves, including how she herself uses discourse.

Contents
Introduction, by Kathy M. Krause
Part I. Saintly Women: Hagiography, Miracle, and Epic
1. "Cume lur cumpaine et lur veisine": Women's Roles in Anglo-Norman Hagiography, by Duncan Robertson
2. Virgin, Saint, and Sinners: Women in Gautier de Coinci's Miracles de Nostre Dame, by Kathy M. Krause
3. Women’s Voices Raised in Prayer: On the "Epic Credo" in Adenet le Roi's Berte as grans pies, by David Wrisley
Part II. Amorous Women: Romance and Lyric
4. Melusine's Double Binds: Foundation, Transgression, and the Genealogical Romance, by Ana Pairet
5. On Fenice’s Vain Attempts to Revise a Romantic Archetype and Chrétien’s Fabled Hostility to the Tristan Legend, by Joan Grimbert
6. The Lyric Lady in Narrative, by William D. Paden
Part III. Dissenting Women: Lyric and Farce
7. "Fine Words on Closed Ears": Impertinent Women, Discordant Voices, Discourteous Words, by Nadine Bordessoule
8. Poetic Justice: The Revenge of La Guignarde in the Livre des Cent Ballades, by Sally Tartline Carden
9. Woman's Cry: Broken Language, Marital Disputes, and the Poetics of Medieval Farce, by Christopher Lucken

Kathy M. Krause, assistant professor of French at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, is the author of articles in Le Moyen Age 102.2, Arizona Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and European Medieval Drama.