The rapid rise of vernacular literature in medieval France, within a culture which continued to acknowledge Latin as its vehicular language, is a fact that literary historians tend too easily to take for granted. Within a relatively short period, stretching roughly from the end of the eleventh century to the thirteenth century, French and Occitan literatures acquired an output and a level of sophistication that made them the leading models for other European literatures. New genres and new subject matters appear one after ...
Read More
The rapid rise of vernacular literature in medieval France, within a culture which continued to acknowledge Latin as its vehicular language, is a fact that literary historians tend too easily to take for granted. Within a relatively short period, stretching roughly from the end of the eleventh century to the thirteenth century, French and Occitan literatures acquired an output and a level of sophistication that made them the leading models for other European literatures. New genres and new subject matters appear one after the other; new ideologies (such as the concept of love developed by the troubadours) are first expressed in vernacular creations; and even learned Latin authors soon feel obliged to take notice of these developments. Should we describe this astonishing chapter of cultural history as the development of a 'lay', or 'profane', literature alongside a Church-dominated learned and religious one, or as the emancipation of vernacular literature from the tutorship of the Church? Is the borderline between 'lay' and 'religious' texts and genres really as clear-cut as some literary histories would make us believe? How then did these new genres of written literature come into being in a culture in which the Church held the monopoly on education, including training in writing? Did the Church as an institution play any role in the birth and expansion of vernacular literature? In the present volume, specialists from the disciplines of linguistics, literature, history and musicology address the various aspects of this complex of questions. The examples studied here are witnesses not only to a constant interaction between lay and religious cultures but also to the productive tension that resulted from the particular situation of the Church in medieval France.
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good with no dust jacket. 0888441657. Kb62...viii, 296 pp. Bibliography, indices. Octavo. Hardcovers in dark brown with a cream parchment-colored band, with a medieval image of Le Chevalier au cygne. Covers are clean and nice, slight bumping of top corners. Gift inscription from the author to a noted medieval historian signed "D. K." on the first free end paper, otherwise clean and tight. A very nice copy. Preliminaries in English, some essays in French, some in English with Latin and early French here and there. "From a end of the 11th century to the 13th century, French and Occitan literatures acquired a productivity and level of sophistication that made them the leading models for other European literatures. New genres...(such as the troubadour concept of love), were first expressed in vernacular creations, and even learned Latin authors soon felt obliged to take notice of these developments..."; Studies and Texts; Toronto Studies in Romance Philoloy I; Vol. 165; 8vo 8"-9" tall; 296 pages; Signed by Author.