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Title: The Lais of Marie De France (Penguin Classics) by Glyn S. Burgess, Keith Busby ISBN: 0-14-044759-8 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The Lais of Marie de France
Comment: The version of The Lais of Marie de France, translated by Glyn Burgess and Keith Busby, is a substantial collection of lays by Marie de France. Though little is known about the writer, Burgess and Busby provide a thorough presentation of the literary evidence relevant to the question of authorship. Furthermore, they discuss the literary history of previous compilations of Marie's lays, laying a broad foundation for even the amateur reader of medieval literature.
The lays in this collection are themselves rich and thematically diverse. Through the literature, Marie makes sharp criticism of medieval gender roles, examines the character and dynamics of Arthur's court, and challenges the modern view of marriage and love. In the story "Lanval," Marie even makes a start towards defining a woman's beauty. To credit of the translators, her stories are both straightforward and accessible to the modern reader. This collection is highly recommended, and well worth the price.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Lais of Marie de France
Comment: The Lais of Marie de France is an entertaining and educational read from the introduction through the end. In this collection, translated here from the original French poems to English prose, Marie de France captures many different facets of King Arthur's court. For example, the Lai of Lanval can be interpreted to be a criticism of King Arthur and his court. The King is compared to a fairy maiden of the Otherworld who is far superior to him both materially and morally. In fact, both Arthur and his Queen are portrayed very negatively, which is not often seen among Arthurian literature. This particular lai also portrays the ideal of courtly love from a very feminine perspective, which is also somewhat unusual among Arthurian literature.
Similarly unusual, the author of this collection is believed to have been a woman. The introduction does a good job of presenting the evidence to support this claim. It then moves on to show connections between the lais and other literature of that period and to try to characterize the lais to some extent. These aims are successfully reached, making the introduction a valuable addition to this edition.
The introduction is not necessary, however, if the lais are being read purely for pleasure. This is easily done, as they contain the ingredients required for a good read: drama, suspense, conflict, and love. Given their content, these lais are entertaining enough to be read purely for enjoyment. I highly recommend this volume to anyone who is interested in either Arthurian love or merely reading a good collection of engaging stories.
Rating: 4
Summary: Girl Power, Medieval Style
Comment: The Lais of Marie de France, aside from being a landmark in the history of literature, are a collection of romantic stories that transcend time. I absolutely love the power and authority Marie de France assigns to her female characters. She juxtaposes the social superiority of men during the late twelfth century with abnormally strong women. The effect can be both compelling and saddening, while always poignant. In the Lai du Lanval, Marie de France creates a larger-than-life female character whose authority and affluence eclipse even King Arthur's grandeur. She essentially tells a love story in reverse, wherein the woman, as the figurative 'white knight',
rescues the man, who plays the role of the 'damsel in distress'. Also, in the Lai du Laustic, she tells the tale of a woman who falls in love with her neighbor and uses the chirping of a nightingale to justify her late night meetings with him. When her husband grows tired of her leaving the bed each
night, he has the nightingale killed so that his wife can sleep. Without the nightingale's chirping, she cannot talk to her love, thus, as an explanation of their bad fortune, she wraps the dead bird and sends it to her lover. This particular lai exposes the sad, immutable predicament of arranged marriages. Marie de France uses clever and subtle ways to describe the complications of love and marriage, which make her writing so uniquely profound.
More specifically, I believe the Penguin Classic's edition of The Lais of Marie de France is an excellent version to study. Compared to other translations I've read, this is the most readable. The translators, Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby make it clear in their Translator's note that their aim was to stay as close to the original written word as possible.
Their introduction is equally fascinating, as they explore the possibilities that Marie de France was not actually a woman and that she may not have written all of the lais. I think the introduction is wonderful: the translators examine much of the context surrounding the lais, which creates and entirely new level of depth for the reader.
The actual book, however, seems a little too expensive ($10.95) for the approximate 170 pages it provides (we're talking like 7 cents per page!). But, I must say, it's entirely worth the price.
I think that aside from being the earliest known French female poet, Marie de France gained and maintains so much popularity because she really hit the nail on the head when she described the underbelly of courtly love. The psychology of her characters is so accurate and moving that the fairy-
tale atmosphere can not conceal the messages embedded in the lais. And those messages have become a fixture of popular culture in the 21st century. Sitcoms, films and literature today readily embrace the power of woman. For the modern reader, Marie de France's lais are both a reminder of unhappier
times in social history and a tribute to 'girl-power'. And in my opinion as a college student, there couldn't be a better combination of messages to inspire and to empower a young woman in this day and age.
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Title: Arthurian Romances (Penguin Classics) by Chretien De Troyes, William W. Kibler ISBN: 0140445218 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine De Pizan, Jeffrey Richards, Christine ISBN: 0892552301 Publisher: Persea Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Letters of Abelard and Heloise, The by Peter Abelard, Betty Radice ISBN: 0140442979 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 03 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Song of Roland (Penguin Classics) by Glyn Burgess ISBN: 0140445323 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 1990 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris, Jean De Meun, Charles Dahlberg ISBN: 0691044562 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 03 July, 1995 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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