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Tovi Bibring




Marie de France, sisterhood and the inversion of gendered topoï

Abstract:

The paper seeks to present the particularly sensible way in which the medieval Anglo-Norman author, Marie de France, reworked gendered topoï which abound in the writing of her male contemporaries. The unusual topos of sisterhood as it is attested in her Lais would be one case study. In a male-dominated and oriented society, we typically find descriptions either of knights and warriors helping/saving their male companions, or of a fairy lady helping the knight errant, or the latter saving a damsel in distress. In the Lais, there are some exceptional yet systematic cases of women helping other women. I will also show some other interesting and surprising cases of the inversion of stereotyped topoï of gender such as a lady instead of a knight who is engaged in an impossible mission, or a sleeping male beauty. I will treat these examples using comparative readings of similar occurrences in male writings.




AsK, September 2012




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