Lettering the Self in Medieval and Early Modern France (Gallica, 17) (Volume 17)

Lettering the Self argues that letters in medieval and early-modern France reveal the contours of the pre-modern self. Letters in this period were complicated compositions which, in addition to their administrative and artistic functions, represented the self in relation to its various others: social superiors and subordinates; friends and lovers; teachers and students; allies and adversaries; patrons and supplicants. These relationships were expressed in the content and form of letters: the rule-bound medieval discipline of letter writing structured the expression of interpersonal relationships in exacting ways, and writers navigated its rules to express contradictory and even illicit relations. Each chapter focuses on a particular epistolary exchange in its intellectual and cultural context, from Baudri of Bourgueil and Constance of Angers, through Heloise and Abelard, Christine de Pizan's participation in the querelle du Roman de la rose, Marguerite de Navarre and Guillaume Bri?????‚?§onnet, to Michel de Montaigne and Etienne de La Boatie, emphasizing the importance of letter-writing in pre-modern French culture and tracing a selective yet significant history of the letter, contributing to our understanding of the development of the epistolary genre, and the pre-modern self. A history of the letter in pre-modern French culture.Lettering the Self argues that letters in medieval and early-modern France reveal the contours of the pre-modern self. Letters in this period were complicated compositions which, in addition to their administrative and artistic functions, represented the self in relation to its various others: social superiors and subordinates; friends and lovers; teachers and students; allies and adversaries; patrons and supplicants. These relationships were expressed in the content and form of letters: the rule-bound medieval discipline of letter writing structured the expression of interpersonal relationships in exacting ways, and writers navigated its rules to express contradictory andeven illicit relations. Each chapter focuses on a particular epistolary exchange in its intellectual and cultural context, from Baudri of Bourgueil and Constance of Angers, through Heloise and Abelard, Christine de Pizan'sparticipation in the querelle du Roman de la rose, Marguerite de Navarre and Guillaume Briçonnet, to Michel de Montaigne and Étienne de La Boétie, emphasizing the importance of letter-writing in pre-modern French culture and tracing a selective yet significant history of the letter, contributing to our understanding of the development of the epistolary genre, and the pre-modern self. KATHERINE KONG is an Assistant Professor of French at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. A history of the letter in pre-modern French culture. Lettering the Self argues that letters in medieval and early-modern France reveal the contours of the pre-modern self. Letters in this period were complicated compositions which, in addition to their administrative and artistic functions, represented the self in relation to its various social superiors and subordinates; friends and lovers; teachers and students; allies and adversaries; patrons and supplicants. These relationships were expressed in the content and form of the rule-bound medieval discipline of letter writing structured the expression of interpersonal relationships in exacting ways, and writers navigated its rules to express contradictory andeven illicit relations. Each chapter focuses on a particular epistolary exchange in its intellectual and cultural context, from Baudri of Bourgueil and Constance of Angers, through Heloise and Abelard, Christine de Pizan'sparticipation in the querelle du Roman de la rose, Marguerite de Navarre and Guillaume Brionnet, to Michel de Montaigne and tienne de La Botie, emphasizing the importance of letter-writing in pre-modern French culture and tracing a selective yet significant history of the letter, contributing to our understanding of the development of the epistolary genre, and the pre-modern self. KATHERINE KONG is an Assistant Professor of French at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. CONTENTS ......Page 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......Page 8 INTRODUCTION ......Page 10 1 Love Letters in the Monastery: Ambiguous Lessons and Epistolary Play in the Verses of Baudri of Bourgueil and Constance of Angers......Page 24 2 Writing the Subjunctive into the Indicative: Commanding Performances in the Letters of Abelard and Heloise......Page 64 3 “Virilis Femina”: Christine de Pizan and the Gender of Letters......Page 118 4 The Pursuit of Spiritual Quietude in theCorrespondence of Marguerite de Navarre and Guillaume Briçonnet......Page 159 5 The Foedus Amicitiae of Etienne de la Boétie and Michel de Montaigne......Page 200 CONCLUSION: Conducting Oneself Through Letters......Page 243 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......Page 252 INDEX ......Page 278 Love letters in the monastery : ambiguous lessons and epistolary play in the verses of Baudri of Bourgueil and Constance of Algiers Writing the subjunctive into the indicative : commanding performances in the letters of Abelard and Heloise Virilis Femina : Christine de Pizan and the gender of letters The pursuit of spiritual quietude in the correspondence of Marguerite de Navarre and Guillaume Briçonnet The Foedus Amicitae of Etienne de la Boétie and Michel de Montaigne.