Love and Death in Medieval French and Occitan Courtly Literature: Martyrs to Love

248 Pages·2006·1.34 MB·English

by  Simon Gaunt

LOVE AND DEATH IN MEDIEVAL
FRENCH AND OCCITAN COURTLY
LITERATURE
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Love and Death in
Medieval French and
Occitan Courtly
Literature
Martyrs to Love
by
SIMON GAUNT
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP
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© Simon Gaunt 2006
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First published 2006
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Gaunt, Simon.
Love and death in medieval French and Occitan courtly literature : martyrs
to love / by Simon Gaunt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978–0–19–927207–5 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–19–927207–7 (alk. paper)
1. French literature–To 1500–History and criticism. 2. Provençal
literature–History and criticism. 3. Courtly love in literature.
4. Death in literature. I. Title.
PQ155.C74G38 2006 841(cid:1).1093543—dc22 2005029729
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India
Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
Biddles Ltd., King’s Lynn, Norfolk
ISBN 0–19–927207–7 978–0–19–927207–5
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Che non si muore per amore
è una gran bella verità
Lucio Battisti
Acknowledgements
I record specific debts in relation to individual chapters at various points
throughout this book. Chapter One is based upon Gaunt (2001a);
Chapter Three draws slightly on Gaunt (2004b); the middle section of
Chapter Six largely reproduces Gaunt (2004a). I would like to thank
Duke University Press, Peter Lang, and Palgrave Macmillan for permis-
sion to reproduce previously published material. I am also grateful to
Librairie Nizet for permission to quote in full a lyric by Gaucelm Faidit in
Chapter Two, and to Mucchi Editore for permission to quote in full the
lyric by Guilhem IX in the Conclusion.
The company, intellectual stimulation, scholarship, and friendship of
some very talented medievalists in London and Cambridge have shaped
this book in decisive ways, notably Bill Burgwinkle, Ardis Butterfield,
Emma Campbell, Chris Cannon, Jane Gilbert, Miranda Griffin, Sylvia
Huot, Sarah Kay, Clare Lees, Bob Mills, Francesca Nicholson, Karen
Pratt, Ben Ramm, Marion Turner, and Julian Weiss. Similarly, the
interest shown in my work by colleagues further afield such as Stefano
Asperti, Carolyn Dinshaw, Aranye Fradenburg, Saverio Guida, Mario
Mancini, Peggy McCracken, and Gina Psaki has been invaluable and
enormously encouraging. In particular, the queer companionship of
Bill and Bob has helped me retain a sense of why I do what I do as a
medievalist, while Sarah’s brilliance, generosity, and drive never fail to
inspire my faith in medieval French studies as the most interesting,
thought-provoking, and glamorous of disciplines.
In King’s College London Catherine Boyle, Patrick ffrench, Anne Green,
Peter Hallward, Hector Kollias, Jo Malt, and Jim Wolfreys have been
sterling colleagues in every respect: it has been a privilege indeed to work
with them and their thinking—generously shared during the course of
many seminars, cups of coffee, and impromptu lunches in the courtyard
of Somerset House—has informed this book constantly. In particular,
Patrick’s unstinting intellectual generosity has been a beacon for me—
and I know for many others—in King’s. It has also been a privilege to
encounter the keen intelligence, and sometimes scepticism, of King’s
students such as Anna Kemp, Davina McTiernan, Paul Mertens, Alex
O’Brien, Anna Papaeti, Anne-Marie Phillips, Ian Riley, Jessica Rosenfeld,
Acknowledgements vii
Chloe Roskilly, and Luke Sunderland, who have kept me on my toes,
frequently delighting me with their insights and questions.
During much of the time I was working on this book, I carried a heavy
administrative load: Rita Pannen, David Ricks, Christine Saunders, and
Christine Theo, albeit in different ways, often made this load seem lighter
with their thoughtful, creative, and humane approach to university
administration and management. Also, without the study leave granted
me by King’s College London this book would still be unfinished: I count
myself fortunate indeed to work in such a supportive institution.
Liz Guild has been my constant interlocutor on psychoanalysis as well
as a dear friend: I cannot thank her enough for all her help. Elizabeth
Edwards, Joël Gouget, Joan Haahr, Nick Harrison, and Phil Levy have
likewise been stalwart friends, whose intellectual probity and compassion
I can only hope to emulate. Mark Treharne read the entire manuscript
and as ever offered invaluable reassurance. Finally, I would like to thank
my sister Vanessa Gaunt, my step-mother Belinda Graham, and my aunt
Monette Gaunt for their love and support. I should like to dedicate this
book to them, and also to my nephew, the budding Egyptologist Titus
Gaunt: though but a boy, he loves the past and realizes its importance.
S.G.
London
May 2005
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Contents
Illustration x
A Note on Quotations and Translations xi
Introduction 1
1. Love’s Martyrdom and the Ethical Subject 16
2. To Die For: The Sovereign Power of the
Lady in Troubadour Lyric 44
3. The Deadly Secrets of the Heart:
TheChastelaine de Vergy and the Castelain de Couci 73
4. Between Two (or More) Deaths:
Tristan, Lancelot, Cligès 104
5. Talking the Talk/Walking the Walk: Gendering Death 138
6. The Queer Look of Love: Narcissus, Bel Vezer, Galehaut 168
Conclusion 205
Bibliography 217
Index 233