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In this study of vernacular French narrative from the twelfth century through the later Middle Ages, Donald Maddox considers the construction of identity in a wide range of fictions. He focuses on crucial encounters, widespread in medieval literature, in which characters are informed about fundamental aspects of their own circumstances and selfhood. The study offers many new perspectives on the poetic and cultural implications of identity as an imaginary construct during the long formative period of French literature.
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This page intentionally left blank In this study of vernacular French narrative from the twelfth century through the later Middle Ages, Donald Maddox considers the construction of identity in a wide range of ®ctions. He focuses on crucial encounters, widespread in medieval literature, in which characters are informed about fundamental aspects of their own circumstances and selfhood. These always arresting and highly signi®cant moments of ``specular'' encounter are examined in numerous Old and Middle French romances, hagiographic texts, epics, and brief narratives. Maddox discloses the key role of identity in an original reading of the Lais of Marie de France as a uni®ed collection, as well as in Arthurian literature, ®ctions of the courtly tryst, genealogies, and medieval family romance. The study offers many new perspectives on the poetic and cultural implications of identity as an imaginary construct during the long formative period of French literature. D O N A L D M A D D O X , Professor of French and Italian Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is the author of numerous books and articles on the French Middle Ages, including The Arthurian Romances of ChreÂtien de Troyes (Cambridge, 1991). C A M B R I D G E S T U D I E S I N M E D I EVA L L I T E R AT U R E General editor Alastair Minnis, University of York Editorial board Patrick Boyde, University of Cambridge John Burrow, University of Bristol Rita Copeland, University of Pennsylvania Alan Deyermond, University of London Peter Dronke, University of Cambridge Simon Gaunt, King's College, London Nigel Palmer, University of Oxford Winthrop Wetherbee, Cornell University This series of critical books seeks to cover the whole area of literature written in the major medieval languages ± the main European vernaculars, and medieval Latin and Greek ± during the period c. 1100±1500. Its chief aim is to publish and stimulate fresh scholarship and criticism on medieval literature, special emphasis being placed on understanding major works of poetry, prose, and drama in relation to the contemporary culture and learning which fostered them. Recent titles in the series Patricia E. Grieve `Floire and Blanche¯or' and the European Romance Huw Pryce (ed.) Literacy in Medieval Celtic Societies Mary Carruthers The Craft of Thought: Meditation, Rhetoric, and the Making of Images, 400±1200 Beate Schmolke-Hasselmann The Evolution of Arthurian Romance: The Verse Tradition from ChreÂtien to Froissart SiaÃn Echard Arthurian Narrative in the Latin Tradition Fiona Somerset Clerical Discourse and Lay Audience in Late Medieval England Florence Percival Chaucer's Legendary Good Women Christopher Cannon The Making of Chaucer's English: A Study of Words Rosalind Brown-Grant Christine de Pizan and the Moral Defence of Women: Reading Beyond Gender Richard Newhauser The Early History of Greed and Society Margaret Clunies Ross Old Icelandic Literature A complete list of titles in the series can be found at the end of the volume. Fictions of Identity in Medieval France DONALD MADDOX The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10