Poet heroines in medieval French narrative : gender and fictions of literary creation

Examining French literature from the medieval period, Findley revises our understanding of medieval literary composition as a largely masculine activity, suggesting instead that writing is seen in these texts as problematically gendered and often feminizing. Cover 1 Title 10 Copyright 11 Contents 12 Introduction Authors, Writers, Singers, and Women: Gendering Literary Creation in Medieval French Culture 16 Part I From Minstrel Heroine to Poet Heroine: The Thirteenth Century and Beyond 41 1. Singing from a Woman’s Body: Minstrel Heroines as Performers and Texts 42 2. The Parrot and the Swan: Performance and Composition in Sone de Nansay 74 Part II Dangerous Muses: Toute Belle and HerSisters in the Fourteenth-Century Dit 93 3. Competing Perspectives: Guillaume de Machaut’s Voir Dit 94 4. A Contemporary Reaction to the Voir Dit : Deadly Words and Captive Imaginations in Jean Froissart’s Prison Amoureuse 127 Part III Women at the Origins: Fifteenth-Century Prose Romance 146 5. Verbal Prowess: Women’s Artistry and Men’s Chivalry in Perceforest 147 6. Women Writers and the Monstrous Author in Ysaÿe le Triste 174 Conclusion: What about Christine? 199 Notes 208 Bibliography 255 Index 267 Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction Authors, Writers, Singers, and Women: Gendering Literary Creation in Medieval French Culture....Pages 1-25 Front Matter....Pages 27-27 Singing From a Woman’s Body: Minstrel Heroines as Performers and Texts....Pages 29-60 The Parrot and the Swan: Performance and Composition in Sone De Nansay ....Pages 61-79 Front Matter....Pages 81-81 Competing Perspectives: Guillaume De Machaut’s Voir Dit....Pages 83-115 A Contemporary Reaction to the Voir Dit: Deadly Words and Captive Imaginations in Jean Froissart’s Prison Amoureuse....Pages 117-135 Front Matter....Pages 137-137 Verbal Prowess: Women’s Artistry and Men’s Chivalry In Perceforest....Pages 139-165 Women Writers and the Monstrous Author in Ysaÿe Le Triste ....Pages 167-191 Conclusion: What About Christine?....Pages 193-201 Back Matter....Pages 203-267 Studies of women and writing frequently take historical woman authors as their starting point, reading through the feminine signature and the biological trace that it is assumed to represent. Poet Heroines in Medieval French Narrative proposes a different approach, looking instead at the numerous fictional female characters of 13th-15th century French narrative who are portrayed as composing and performing poetry, and whose gendered literary activity links writing, singing, the body, and performance. Such figures represent a promising new area of exploration in women's literary history, one based on the texts themselves rather than the uncertain circumstances of their composition