The romance of the rose, or, Guillaume de Dole / by Jean Renart ; translated, with an introduction by Patricia Terry and Nancy Vine Durling.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jean Renart, active 12th century-13th century.

Series:

Middle Ages series

Standardized Title:

Roman de la Rose. English

Language:

English

French, Old (ca. 842-1300)

Subjects (All):

Romances--Translations into English.

Romances.

Genre:

Fiction.

Physical Description:

116 pages ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Romance of the rose.

Guillaume de Dole.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.

Summary:

In the last decade, interest in the early thirteenth-century writer Jean Renart has been steadily increasing. The author of at least two noteworthy romances, Le Roman de la Rose or Guillaume de Dole and L'Escoufle (The Kite), as well as Le Lai de l'Ombre, Jean Renart is today recognized as the most accomplished practitioner of the "realistic romance."

Guillaume de Dole revolves around the dramatic recovery of the honor and reputation of Lienor, the beautiful young sister of the knight Guillaume de Dole. Guillaume uses his prowess and courtliness to become an intimate friend of the German emperor Conrad. When Conrad falls in love with Lienor, sight unseen, and determines to make her his bride, the emperor's seneschal fears that his privileged position in the court will be threatened by Guillaume, and he plots to discredit Lienor. When Lienor discovers that her honor has been impugned, she promptly sets in motion a counterplot to discredit the seneschal. Accusing him of rape, she provokes a judicial drama before the emperor. Throughout the story, Jean Renart provides an elegant description of court life replete with vivid details of costume, food, lodgings, and tournaments.

A remarkable feature of Guillaume de Dole is Jean Renart's use of a wide array of lyric poems. Guillaume de Dole is in fact the first extant example of this combined use of narrative and lyric in Old French literature. A wide variety of musical genres, ranging from the chansons de toile, or spinning songs, to courtly lyrics, are represented.

Guillaume de Dole is a powerful portrait of an independent woman within the context of early thirteenth-century society. It is a work of immense charm and elegance, and it will be an important resource not only for students of literature and women's studies, but for medieval historians as well, who will find that a number of important historical figures interact with fictional ones.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0812231112

0812213882

OCLC:

27643004