Alain Chartier, The quarrel of the belle dame sans mercy
edited and translated by Joan E. McRae
Publisher: New York : Routledge, 2004.
ISBN: 0415966116
LCC: PQ1557
Summary:
"Alain Chartier was one of the most popular authors of the fifteenth
century; some 200 manuscripts transmit the fruit of his literary
genius. After the Renaissance, however, his works received little
critical attention until the nineteenth-century poet John Keats and
pre-Raphaelite artists revived the image of Chartier's most
compelling and enigmatic character in a poem of the same name: "La
Belle dame sans merci." In this facing-page edition with English
translation, speakers of English, for the first time, will have
access to the source of this icon of the femme fatale, a debate
between lady and lover in which the pleas and arguments of the lover
are turned against him in witty repartee. Ultimately, the lady's
unyielding refusal provokes the lover's death of heartache. Following
the poem are the letters and erotico-juridical poems inspired by the
scandal of this lady whose language was lethal to the lover and the
courtly traditions he maintained. In an allegorical courtroom before
the God of Love, the Belle dame's outrageous words are played against
her as she is accused of willful murder. Lightly satirical and born
of bourgeois inspiration, the Quarrel of the Belle dame sans mercy
portrays an image of courtliness fallen victim to decadence and the
destructiveness of the Hundred Years War, even as it gives voice to a
claim for women's rights in love."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (p. 485-491) and index.
La belle dame sans mercy -- Letters -- The excuse of master Alain --
Accusations against the belle dame sans mercy -- The lady loyal in
love -- The cruel woman in love -- The errors of judgement of the
belle dame sans mercy -- The hospital of love -- The belle dame who
has mercy.
Language: eng
Physical Description: x, 502 p. ; 24 cm.
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