Debating the Roman de la Rose: A Critical Anthology (Routledge Medieval Texts)
Language: English
Pages: 484
ISBN: 0415808928
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Around the year 1400, the poet Christine de Pizan initiated a public debate in France over the literary "truth" and merit of the Roman of the Rose, perhaps the most renowned work of the French Middle Ages. She argued against what she considered to be misrepresentations of female virtue and vice in the Rose. Her bold objections aroused the support and opposition of some of the period’s most famous intellectuals, notable Jean Gerson, whose sermons on the subject are important literary documents. "The Quarrel of the Rose" is the name given by modern scholars to the collection of these and other documents, including both poetry and letters, that offer a vivid account of this important controversy.
As the first dual-language version of the "Quarrel" documents, this volume will be of great interest to medievalists and an ideal addition to the Routledge Medieval Texts series. Along with translations of the actual debate epistles, the volume includes several relevant passages from the Romance of the Rose, as well as a chronology of events and ample biography of source materials.
l’une en veust defenir, De l’autre li doit souvenir, Ou ja, par nule antancion, N’i metra diffinicion; Car qui des .ii. n’a cognoissance, Ja n’i cognoistra differance, San quoi ne peut venir en place Diffinicion que l’an face. [And so it goes with contraries: the one glosses the other, and whoever wants to define one of them must bear the other in mind, for otherwise, it is impossible to offer any definition at all. For whoever does not have knowledge of the two will never know the difference
The Defense of Courtly Disourse and Morals 472 476 480 484 488 492 496 500 504 508 75 For that accounting would be long to give. Thus, women are not quite so insincere As some maintain; in fact, many are true. And yet it happens, all too commonly, That they can be deceived, betrayed in love. And finding, then, that they have been deceived, The women who are most prudent soon withdraw; In that they are only demonstrating sense. Should they be blamed for fickleness instead? Does God so
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for those parts of the Roman which my writings address. In any case, it would be good of you to note precisely which parts I condemn and which ones I do not. If in fact you so despise my arguments for my lack of intelligence (which you attribute to the fact that “I am a woman,” etc.), know that I consider precisely that point an insult to the memory of all noble women, past and present, educated in all virtues, and deserving of praise. I would rather be compared to them than to receive all the
in order to love well it is not at all necessary to be foolish, nor to lose one’s “sense, time, etc.” You will then tell me that I encourage the young to fall in love, and to this I reply that this is not so, because any worldly love is nothing but vanity. However, if we must allow for one of the two, I would say that it is worse to deceive than to love well, and worse can come of it. Yet since Master Jean de Meun, who, after all, describes many things well, never describes the character of the