Transforming Tales : Rewriting Metamorphosis in Medieval French Literature

Transforming Tales argues that the study of transformation is crucial for understanding a wide range of canonical work in medieval French literature. From the lais and Arthurian romances of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, through the Roman de la Rose and its widespread influence, to the fourteenth-century Ovide moralisé and the vast prose cycles of the late Middle Ages, metamorphosis is a recurrent theme, resulting in some of the best-known and most powerful literature of the era. Transforming Tales is the first book in English to explore in detail the importance of ideas of metamorphosis in French literature from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. This book's purpose is twofold: it traces a series of figures (the werewolf, the snake-woman, the nymph, the magician, amongst others) as they are transformed within individual texts; and it also examines the way in which the stories of transformation themselves become rewritten during the course of the Middle Ages. Griffin's approach combines close readings and comparisons of literary texts with readings informed by modern critical theories which are grounded in many of the ideas raised by medieval metamorphosis: the body, gender, identity and categories of life. Literary depictions and reworkings of transformation raise questions about medieval understandings of the differences between human and animal, man and woman, God and man, life and death{u2014}these are the questions explored in Transforming Tales. -- From publisher's website Cover Transforming Tales: Rewriting Metamorphosis in Medieval French Literature Copyright Dedication Acknowledgements Contents Abbreviations Introduction: Rewriting Metamorphosis YONEC: THE FEATHER’S TRACES OBSCURE WORDS AND BODIES: INHERITING TRANSFORMATION THINKING THROUGH METAMORPHOSIS APPROACHES TO THE BODY STRUCTURE OF THIS BOOK 1: Dismembering Ovid RARIFICAT NEBULAS, INTEGUMENTA CANIT: VEILED LANGUAGE DIVISÉ PAR L’EFFET DE LANGAGE: PENTHEUS, ACTAEON, AND SHADES OF DISMEMBERMENT REMEMBERING CHRISTIANITY CONCLUSION: HEARING MARSYAS 2: Reflecting on Echo LOOKING FOR ECHO IN THEORY AND TRANSLATION ECHO AND QUOTATION IN THE TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH CENTURIES ECHO RESONABILIS: EXEMPLARITY AND CONTINGENCY IN THE ROMAN DE LA ROSE CONCLUSION: LISTENING TO ECHO 3: The Beast Without DERRIDA, AGAMBEN, AND THE WEREWOLF THE SKIN BENEATH THE SKIN QUI SUIS-JE?: THE KNIGHT’S ANIMAL BODY CONCLUSION: ARTHUR’S HYBRIDITY AND ALEXANDRINE’S PRAYER 4: Sex and the Serpent SERPENTINE SECRETS: TIRESIAS’S KNOWLEDGE AND THE SIBYL’S PARADISE WHAT RAYMONDIN SAW: MÉLUSINE, THE ABJECT, AND THE NATURAL WOMAN LOOKING AT MEDUSA: ‘LA CHAIR QU’ON NE VOIT JAMAIS’ SCULPTING NATURE: PYGMALION IN THE ROSE AND THE OVIDE MORALISÉ CONCLUSION: THE STATUE’S BLUSHES 5: Now You See Him . . .: The Metamorphoses of Merlin SEEING DEMONS: AIR AND ANAMORPHOSIS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE: EMBODIED VOICE ESCAPING GENDER CONCLUSION: INKY LADIES Conclusion: The Stuff that Dreams Are Made On THANKING MORPHEUS: THE IMPOSSIBLE STATUE PLACES OF TRANSFORMATION: THE FOUNTAIN, THE DESK, AND THE BED Bibliography PRIMARY TEXTS SECONDARY TEXTS Index Transforming Tales argues that the study of transformation is crucial for understanding a wide range of canonical work in medieval French literature. From the lais and Arthurian romances of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, through the Roman de la Rose and its widespread influence, to the fourteenth-century Ovide moralisé and the vast prose cycles of the late Middle Ages, metamorphosis is a recurrent theme, resulting in some of the best-known and most powerful literature of the era. Transforming Tales is the first book in English to explore in detail the importance of ideas of metamorphosis in French literature from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. This book's purpose is twofold: it traces a series of figures (the werewolf, the snake-woman, the nymph, the magician, amongst others) as they are transformed within individual texts; and it also examines the way in which the stories of transformation themselves become rewritten during the course of the Middle Ages. Griffin's approach combines close readings and comparisons of literary texts with readings informed by modern critical theories which are grounded in many of the ideas raised by medieval metamorphosis: the body, gender, identity and categories of life. Literary depictions and reworkings of transformation raise questions about medieval understandings of the differences between human and animal, man and woman, God and man, life and death{u2014}these are the questions explored in Transforming Tales. -- From publisher's website 'transforming Tales' Examines The Idea Of Bodily Transformation In French Literature Composed Between The 12th And The 15th Centuries, Exploring The Ways In Which Stories Of Transformation Enable An Insight Into Medieval Ideas About Humanity And Arguing That Metamorphosis Can Be Read As A Metaphor For Rewriting In The Middle Ages. Introduction: Rewriting Metamorphosis -- Dismembering Ovid -- Reflecting On Echo -- The Beast Without -- Sex And The Serpent -- Now You See Him ...: The Metamorphoses Of Merlin -- Conclusion: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made On. Miranda Griffin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Transforming Tales examines the idea of bodily transformation in French literature composed between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries, exploring the ways in which stories of transformation enable an insight into medieval ideas about humanity and arguing that metamorphosis can be read as a metaphor for rewriting in the Middle Ages. __Transforming Tales____lais____Roman de la Rose__**Ovide moralise**__Transforming Tales____Transforming Tales__