Essai
Nouvelle parution
G. L. Smith, The Medieval French Pastourelle Tradition: Poetic Motivations and Generic Transformations.

G. L. Smith, The Medieval French Pastourelle Tradition: Poetic Motivations and Generic Transformations.

Publié le par Bérenger Boulay (Source : TMR)

Geri L. Smith, The Medieval French Pastourelle Tradition: Poetic Motivations and Generic Transformations.

Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009, x-321 p.

ISBN: 978-0-8130-3336-5

$75.00.

Compte rendu par Brooke Heidenreich Findley (Penn State Altoona) dans The Medieval Review (TMR 09.12.06)

"By showing how three major authors self-consciously adapted the pastourelleto suit their own purposes, this book sheds light on the larger conceptof the genre. The close analysis of large bodies of text will helpreaders appreciate the skill with which these authors manipulated atraditional genre in the context of rapidly changing social andcultural conditions."--Kristen Figg, Kent State University-Salem

One of the most popular genres created and performed by Medieval troubadours and trouvères was the pastourelle.Though it varied greatly in its details, the genre was dominated by thefollowing theme: a passing knight encounters and attempts to seduce ashepherdess who, in turn, defends herself against his advances in avariety of ways. The brilliance of the artists who manipulated thegenre was revealed in their ability to innovate, synthesize, andelaborate upon the constraints of the form.

In this work--the first major evaluation of the Northern French pastourelleto appear in decades--Geri Smith examines the genre in the hands ofthree Medieval masters: Adam de la Halle, Jean Froissart, and Christinede Pizan. She explores the very different ways in which theseindividuals engaged with the form and subject matter of the pastourelleand transformed it, variously, into a stage for their dramaticartistry, a forum for their responses to social and ideologicalconditions, and, ultimately, into a distinctive statement bearing theirindividual mark. The result sheds new light on the evolving concept ofauthor in the Middle Ages.

Geri L. Smith is associate professor of French at the United States Military Academy, West Point.