Marriage fictions in Old French secular narratives (1150-1250)

This dissertation attempts to account for the prominent role of conjugal plots in early vernacular literature and studies the representation and thematic significance of marriage and adultery in important twelfth- and thirteenth-century narratives: in two romans d'antiquite: Le Roman d'Eneas and Benoit de Sainte-Maure's Le Roman de Troie; in a number of twelfth-century romances: Tristan et Iseut (versions of both Beroul and Thomas); Chretien de Troyes's Cliges; Gautier d'Arras's Eracle; and the anonymous Partonopeus de Blois; in the epic poem Girart de Roussillon; in two early thirteenth-century romances by Jean Renart: L'Escoufle and Guillaume de Dole; and in the Provencal tale of adulterous love Flamenca, dated to the middle of the thirteenth century.