The Lays of Marie de France (Mingling Voices Series)

The twelve “lays” of the mysterious medieval poet Marie de France are here presented in sprightly English verse by poet and translator David R. Slavitt. Traditional Breton folktales were the raw material for Marie de France’s series of lively but profound considerations of love, life, death, fidelity and betrayal, and luck and fate. They offer acute observations about the choices that women make, startling in the late twelfth century and challenging even today. Combining a keen wit with an impressive technical bravura, the lays are a minor treasure of European culture.... It was with some shamethat he explained how, in the wood,he lived on whatever prey he couldcapture and kill. She digested thisand then inquired of him what hiscostume was in these bizarreforays. “Lady, werewolves arecompletely naked,” was his reply.She laughed at this (I can’t guess why)and asked him where he hid his clothes—to make conversation, I suppose. Overview: The twelve “lays” of Marie de France, the earliest known French woman poet, are here presented in sprightly English verse by poet and translator David R. Slavitt. Traditional Breton folktales were the raw material for Marie de France’s series of lively but profound considerations of love, life, death, fidelity and betrayal, and luck and fate. They offer acute observations about the choices that women make, startling in the late twelfth century and challenging even today. Combining a woman’s wisdom with an impressive technical bravura, the lays are a minor treasure of European culture. The twelve "lays" of Marie de France, the earliest known French woman poet, are here presented in sprightly English verse by translator David R. Slavitt. Traditional Breton folk tales were the raw material for Marie de France's lively but profound considerations of betrayal and fidelity, love, death, luck, and fate