Gender and Genre in Medieval French Literature

by Simon Gaunt

Overview

This wide-ranging study explores the ideological framework of genre in Old French and Occitan literature by charting the relationship between ideology and gender in five key genres: the chansons de geste, courtly romance, the Occitan canso, hagiography and the fabliaux. Simon Gaunt offers new readings of canonical Old French and medieval Occitan texts such as the Chanson de Roland, Chrétien de Troyes' Chevalier de la charrete, and lyrics by Bernart de Ventadorn. In addition, he considers many less well-known works and less familiar genres such as hagiography and the fabliaux. Drawing on contemporary feminist theory, he examines how masculinity, as well as femininity, is constructed in medieval French and Occitan texts, and he shows that gender is a crucial element in the formation of the ideologies that underpin medieval literary genres.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521022606
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/10/2005
Series:	Cambridge Studies in French , #53
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.55(w) x 8.54(h) x 1.06(d)

Table of Contents

1. Monologic masculinity: the chanson de geste; 2. The knight meets his match: romance; 3. Troubadours, ladies and language: the canso; 4. Saints, sex and community: hagiography; 5. Genitals, gender and mobility: the fabliaux.

Editorial Reviews

"Gaunt's book is a highly erudite piece of work supported by extensive scholarship." Philip E. Bennett, Studies in the Age of Chaucer

"...well organized, subtly argued, insightful, richly informed. This important, seminal book will influence scholarship for years to come." Rupert T. Pickens, L'Esprit Créateur

"This informative and stimulating book investigates the defining models of gender deployed by five major literary genres in medieval French and Occitan culture. ...Gaunt's book...offers challenging theoretical insights and valuable interpretations of many texts." Michel-André Bossy, Speculum

From the Publisher