Marie de France
Subtitle: poetry, new translations, backgrounds and contexts, criticism
By: translated and edited by Dorothy Gilbert
Contributors: Gilbert, Dorothy, 1936- editor, translator
Edition: First edition.
Series: A Norton critical edition; Norton critical edition
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 407
ISBN-13: 9780393932683
Subjects: Translations into English; Criticism and interpretation
Work titles: Works
Description: "Marie de France was a medieval poet who was probably born in France and who lived in England during the twelfth century. Prominent among the earliest poets writing in the French vernacular, Marie de France helped shape the style and genres of later medieval poetry. This Norton Critical Edition includes all of Marie's lais (short narrative verse poems); selected fables; and a generous excerpt from Saint Patrick's Purgatory, a long poem based on a well-known medieval legend. Each text is accompanied by detailed explanatory annotations. For comparative reading, two lais, "Bisclavret" and "Yonec," are accompanied by Marie's facing-page originals. "Contexts" is thematically organized to provide readers with a clear sense of Marie's Inspirations. Topics include "The Supernatural," "Love and Romance," "Medical Traditions," "Fable Sources and Analogues: Similar Themes," and "Purgatory and the Afterlife." Ovid, St. Augustine, King Cnut, Chaucer, Andreas Capellanus, Boccaccio, Aristotle, and Bede are among the authors included. From the wealth of scholarly work published on Marie de France, Dorothy Gilbert has chosen eight essays that address issues of history and authorship as well as major themes in the lais, fables, and Saint Patrick's Purgatory. The contributions are Thomas Warton, Abbe Gervais de la Rue, Joseph Bedier, Leo Spitzer, R. Howard Bloch, E. A. Francis, Jill Mann, and Jacques LeGoff" --
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 405-407).

Translated from the Old French, with two lais also included in the original Old French.
Table of contents: title: The lais : translations; title: The fables : translations (selected); title: Espurgatorie de Seint Patriz; title: The supernatural; title: Love and romance; title: Medical traditions; title: Fable sources and analogues : similar themes; title: Purgatory and the afterlife; title: Early criticism; title: Modern criticism : the lais and fables, Saint Patrick's Purgatory.