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The Old French narrative lais offer an image of the individual in terms of both social and personal relationships. This study considers the extent to which it is possible to derive definitions of forms of social and personal fulfilment and non-fulfilment from these texts. As well as being presented in isolation, they are shown in interaction; there can never be a total divorce of the personal desires of the individual from his/her rights and obligations in society. These two aspects of human existence - love and society - appear in the lais in a state of balance or imbalance. Even in those lais in which the characters themselves do not achieve a balance of social and personal fulfilment, the image of the ideal emerges. Consummate fulfilment in a relationship - be it feudal, familial, sexual - necessarily involves a fusion of social suitability and personal commitment. In his/her aspirations to and/or success in fulfilment, the individual appears variously in these texts both as a pawn of the forces of society or destiny and as endowed with the power to earn his/her own happiness. The degree of importance that the interaction between love and society has in the lais is, in particular, indicated through the extent to which these patterns of interaction define the patterns of narrative structure. From this study, conclusions can be drawn as to the historical reality of the individual in twelfth-century noble society in France; the lais offering a reflection of that society, of which they are a product, and also an expression of its ideals, which allow for the very real obstacles to a fusion of social and personal fulfilment to be overcome.

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No description available.

La chanson d'Yde et Olive, an early fourteenth-century epic poem from the Picard region, exemplifies the medieval custom of text renewal that seeks to adapt pagan materials to fit Christian doctrine. Largely based on the plot of the Ovidian fable Iphis and Ianthe from The Metamorphoses, its main character Yde undergoes a metaphorical transformation from a woman into a man. Moreover, much like the Ovide moralisé, a Christianized adaptation of the Latin original, Yde et Olive's message can be understood as a Christian parable for the purging of the sinful soul. To set up the poem's didactic message, the poet carefully infuses the story with contemporary social concerns, such as the theme of incest and gender disruption, both potentially offensive forces to the medieval social structure. In the backdrop of these threats to society, the heroine's overcoming of her struggles becomes all the more meaningful, leading to a clear moral message to the reader. While being a hybrid in genre and structure, the poem shows many borrowings from Christian hagiography, especially from the later, more romance-influenced versions of the Vitae of female transvestite saints. In these narratives, the heroine's spiritual development is typically portrayed in terms of "becoming male," which can also be understood as an erasure of sexual difference to approach God in a Neoplatonic sense. Moreover, the development of Yde's own hybrid state leading to the climax of revealing her new sex exemplifies medieval literary criticism, elaborating on the central theme of uncovering truth by exposing the hidden gem beneath the rough surface.