Eros and Noesis : A Cognitive Approach to the Courtly Love Literature of Medieval France

"This is the first study to apply the results of modern cognitive science to medieval love literature. Covering the entire corpus of Occitan, French and Latin love literature of twelfth- and thirteenth-century France, it explores the universal and the culturally specific in medieval poetic attitudes towards love, the cognitive structure of the love themes, and the cognitive basis for the system of courtly genres. It proposes a cognitive taxonomy of courtly literature based on three "hyper-genres": the lyric as the basic mode for the expression of love, with courtly narrative and didactic literature arising through a process of amplification of the courtly themes. It also includes anti-courtly satire, which applies to courtly idealism an innate human propensity for detecting cheating"-- Provided by publisher Contents 6 Acknowledgements 8 Abbreviations 9 Introduction 10 Part 1 Love Problems: Courtly Literature, Genre Theory and Cognition 20 Chapter 1 The Problem of “Courtly Love”: In Search of a New Paradigm 22 1 The Classic Theory (1880–1950) 22 2 Revisions and Contestations (1950–1985) 29 3 Poststructuralism and the New Medievalism (1985–the Present) 35 4 Generic and Cognitive Perspectives 46 Chapter 2 Medieval Poetic Love: Biological Universality and Cultural Specificity 52 1 The Medieval Invention of Love? 52 2 Universality: The Biology of Love 54 3 The Environment of Adaptation: Courtly Culture 62 4 Medieval Intellectual Culture and Poetic Form: Rhetoric and Dialectic 66 5 Medieval Social Institutions and Poetic Substance: Feudalism and Christianity 75 Chapter 3 Cognition and Genre Theory: The System of the Courtly Genres 82 1 Genre Theory and Courtly Literature 82 2 Courtly Lyric 86 3 Courtly Narrative 93 4 Courtly Didactic 98 5 The Courtly Genres as a System 105 Chapter 4 The Psycho-dynamics of Love: Parsing the Courtly Themes 110 1 The Origins of Love 111 2 Obstacles to Love 115 3 Overcoming the Obstacles 123 4 Outcomes 133 Part 2 Love’s Discourse: A Cognitive Taxonomy of the Courtly Genres 140 Chapter 5 Love Song: Courtly Themes in a Lyric Mode 142 1 Pure Lyricism: The Canso and Some Derivative Genres 142 2 Songs of Male Boasting: The “Gap” 153 3 The Woman’s Voice: Trobairitz and “Chansons de Femme” 160 4 Lyrico-narrative Genres: Pastourelle, Aube, Chanson de Toile 169 5 Lyrico-didactic Genres: Tensos and Partimens 182 Chapter 6 Love Story: Courtly Themes in a Narrative Mode 194 1 From Song to Tale: Troubadour Biographies and Lyric Insertions 196 2 Short Verse Narrative: Novas and Lais 206 3 Romance: Tristan, Chrétien and Beyond 221 Chapter 7 Love Lesson: Courtly Themes in a Didactic Mode 231 1 Vernacular Beginnings: The Ensenhamens 232 2 The Ovidian Tradition: Latin and Vernacular Arts of Love 244 3 A Latin, Scholastic Synthesis: Andreas Capellanus 255 4 A Vernacular, Courtly Synthesis: Guillaume de Lorris 262 Chapter 8 Love Mocked: Courtly Themes in a Satirical Mode 277 1 Lyric Satire: Sirventés and “Contre-textes” 280 2 Narrative Satire: Burlesque Lais and Fabliaux 293 3 Didactic Satire: Debates and Diatribes 306 Conclusion 323 Bibliography 328 Index of Ancient and Medieval Authors and Works 355 Index of Modern Scholars 361 Subject Index 366