Chrétien de Troyes revisited
By: Karl D. Uitti with Michelle A. Freeman.
Contributors: Freeman, Michelle A.
Series: Twayne's world authors series revisited [sic] ;; TWAS 855.; French literature; Twayne's world authors series ;; TWAS 855.; Twayne's world authors series.
Publisher: Twayne Publishers; Maxwell Macmillan Canada; Maxwell Macmillan International
Published: 1995
Place of publication: New York; Toronto; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 169
Subjects: Chrétien, de Troyes, 12th cent. -- Criticism and interpretation.; Arthurian romances -- History and criticism.
Description: In Chretien de Troyes Revisited, author Karl D. Uitti at last places Chretien in context, offering a strong sense of the author's identity and the milieu in which he lived and wrote. Uitti's 30 years of work on the subject pay handsome dividends for the reader, as we view Chretien - likely for the first timeoutside of a vacuum. Uitti locates Chretien within the theological and philosophical setting of his time; views him as a worker-craftsman who produced stories on demand for his patron; depicts him as a clerc, that is, a learned man who took possession of the literary heritage coming down from Greece and Rome, thus becoming a successor to Virgil and Ovid; establishes a link between the "joining" of Heloise and Abelard and the numerous couples depicted in Chretien's romances; and argues persuasively that he advanced the French language to new heights through his work.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-162) and index.