Jean Renart and the Art of Romance
This volume is the first collection of essays devoted to the work of the early 13th-century author Jean Renart. Focusing primarily on Guillaume de Dole, it includes sections on Text and Context; The Language of Lyric and the Language of Romance; Music and Performance.
"Excellent.... Offers a valuable introduction to the romance for general readers while at the same time serving substantial fare to a specialized public." -- Mathilda T. Bruckner, Boston College
"Groundbreaking discussions of a recently 'discovered,' extraordinary 13th-century literary figure.... Splendid essays from highly respected scholars." -- Harriet Spiegel, California State University
"Nancy Vine Durling is to be congratulated for bringing together such an intelligent collection: the overall quality is extremely high, the dialogue between essays particularly effective, and the bibliography at the end of the volume remarkably complete. Bravo." Speculum
"[T]hese essays are an excellent resource for understanding both Jean Renart and early-13th-century French romance." Choice
"This collection of essays makes a valuable contribution to scholarship on the still little-known thirteenth-century romance of Jean Renart ... Guillaume de Dole." Notes and Queries
"This is an important and welcome collection devoted to a romancer who fully merits such attention." Arthuriana
"This very serious (and very handsome) book makes one want to (re)read Guillaume de Dole . . . . [The] studies confirm, enrich and advance the Jean Renart renaissance of the past twenty years, documented in the very useful 'Selected Bibliography'." French Review
"These seven essays provide a most useful background and reflection on the romance Guillaume de Dole that will enable medieval scholars to further appreciate Jean Renart's talent and originality." Romance Quarterly
"[A]n excellent introduction to Jean Renart's Guillaume de Dole, and one that will suggest new directions for research to those who already know it." The Medieval Review
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction, by Nancy Vine Durling
Text and Context:
1. The Uses of Embroidery in the Romances of Jean Renart: Gender, History, Textuality, by Nancy A. Jones
2. "Once there was an emperor . . .": A Political Reading of the Romances of Jean Renart, by John W. Baldwin
The Language of Lyric and the Language of Romance:
3. Lyric Insertions and the Reversal of Romance Conventions in Jean Renart's Roman de la rose or Guillaume de Dole, by Maureen Barry McCann Boulton
4. Suspension and Fall: The Fragmentation and Linkage of Lyric Insertions in Le roman de la rose (Guillaume de Dole) and Le roman de la violette by Michel Zink
5. Jean Renart's Expanded Text: Lïenor and the Lyrics of Guillaume de Dole by Regina Psaki
6. On the Untranslatable Surface of Guillaume de Dole by Patricia Terry
Music and Performance:
7. Jean Renart and Medieval Song, by Hendrik van der Werf
Appendix 1: "Bele Aeliz": A Comparison of Lecoy and Gennrich Editions
Appendix 2: Survey of Musical References
Appendix 3: Melodies