Christine de Pizan: Le Livre Du Duc Des Vrais Amans

Christine De Pizan ; With Introduction By Thelma S. Fenster. Text In Middle French, Introduction And Critical Matter In English. Includes Bibliographical References. The "Livre du duc des vrais amans" (1403-1405), the last narrative poem on a courtly subject that Christine de Pizan was to write, is arguably among her finest poetic accomplishments. A formal tour de force, the work is far and away its author's most notable contribution to the late medieval hybrid genre, for it is a gathering of voices, in narrated story and lyric poem--inserted ballade, virelai, and rondeau--as well as a stage for dialogic and epistolary exchange. At the same time, it is one of Christine's most important reflections upon the representation of illicit passion in contemporary courtly romance. -- Introduction http://www.archive.org/details/lelivreduducdesv00chriuoft