1st Edition
Constructions of Childhood and Youth in Old French Narrative
By Phyllis Gaffney
Copyright 2011
244 Pages
by
Routledge
244 Pages
by
Routledge
244 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
What do we know of medieval childhood? Were boundaries always clear between childhood and young adulthood? Was medieval childhood gendered? Scholars have been debating such questions over half a century. Can evidence from imaginative literature test the conclusions of historians? Phyllis Gaffney's innovative book reveals contrast and change in the portrayal of childhood and youth by looking at... Read more
Part 1 Approaches; Chapter 1 Medieval Childhood in Literature; Chapter 2 Who Was The Medieval Child? A Repertoire of Traditional Images; Part 2 Constructions of Childhood and Youth in Chanson de geste and Romance; Chapter 3 Changing Models of Childhood and Youth in the Chanson de Geste; Chapter 4 Childhood and Youth in Romance: Love, Learning and the Drama of Identity; Chapter 5 Childhood and Youth in Enfances Poems; Part 3 Conclusion; Chapter 6 A Slow Conversion of Sensibility;
Biography
Phyllis Gaffney (PhD Cantab) is Senior Lecturer in French at University College Dublin, Ireland. She researches medieval French literature, Franco-Irish connections in the twentieth century, and literary translation.
'... in assembling a wide array of literary and non-literary evidence (including interesting observations about infancy gospel narratives and their intertextuality with secular enfances), Gaffney’s book demonstrates that imaginative literature has a significant part to play in the cultural history of childhood.' Modern Language Review '... this is an enlightening and satisfying study of a significant thread of cultural history.' French Studies ’...offers some fascinating insights into the changing representations of young people in Old French verse narrative, and will certainly appeal to scholars researching constructions of childhood and youth, but should also be of interest to scholars of Old French literature more broadly.’ Medium Aevum '... anyone wanting an overview of Old French narrative texts that deal with childhood and adolescence in the high Middle Ages could do no better than consult Gaffney’s monograph. ... Gaffney’s study is entirely scholarly and will be extremely useful for students and researchers working in the field of Old French literature.' H-France
