Numerous studies have been devoted to the Lays of Marie de France, but few consider the Lays as a cohesive unity. Most critics deal only with one theme or one aspect of the Lays or examine each lay as a separate entity. Drawing on anthropological and archetypal criticism and more particularly on the works of Mircea Eliade and Gilbert Durand, the present study highlights the unity of the Lays, as well as their ongoing literary value, by showing how a mythical dimension underlies the desire for happiness, and how Marie by depicting the social and cultural occupations and the mentality of her time, adapts and recreates the universal myth of the Lost Paradise. By focusing on the mythical background of the Lays, I will examine the concepts of "time" and "space" in order to illustrate how the heroes and heroines try to overcome the human condition, i.e. duality, by (re)-creating or (re)-integrating a harmonious universe, paradise, so as to escape death and achieve a kind of transcendency. The Edenic world the heroes and heroines turn to is based on other dimensions than the world that surrounds them. "Time" and "space" are "qualitatively" different. In most lays, it is the present of the beloved one that structures "space" and determines "time," which reveals their "true" significance. Some heroes and heroines turn to the past, in a nostalgic evocation of lost happiness, as do for instance the heroes and heroines in Laustic and Chaitivel. The majority of Marie's protagonists such as Guigemar, Lanval or the lover in Deus Amanz, however, go forward. For them paradise lies in the future. In the former lays, "nostalgia" characterizes stasis whereas in the latter lays the concepts of "initiation" and "rebirth" focus on the theme of the "quest," and put these lays in a dynamic perspective. Not all heroes and heroines attain harmony or reach paradise. It is relevant nevertheless that those who do, do so on different levels (individual and social) and through different means (love, friendship, poetry), which greatly accounts for the variety and liveliness of the Lays. In essence, the Lays all tell the same story but variously describe the unique manner in which "adventure" comes to these individual protagonists, who have in common the desire for earthly paradise.

Meraugis l'empopiné, Silence li vallés qui est mescine and Calogrenant la pucele are three characters of three different verse romances of the 13th century (Meraugis de Portlesguez of Raoul de Houdenc, Le Roman de Silence of Heldris de Cornouailles and Claris et Laris), in which the authors address the subject of cross-dressing. This type of disguise, which is fairly widespread in medieval literature, has inspired several medievalists in the field of Gender Studies. However, it is possible to read the cross-dressing of these three characters from another critical standpoint and to see it as a reflection of the authors' poetics. In the verse romance of the 13th century, the textile metaphor – that refers to both the fabric that covers the body and the text in an etymological point of view – turns out as the author's parodic strategy on certain occasion. The cross-dressing of a character would therefore be, in terms of the poetics of the work, a bestornement (reversal) of the motif of the Arthurian tradition. Particular attention will first be given to textiles in general and then to cross-dressing. Finally, some motif differentiated from the textile metaphor will be studied to determine in broader terms how these three writers of the 13th century parody the literary conventions. / Meraugis l'empopiné, Silence li vallés qui est mescine et Calogrenant la pucele sont des personnages de trois romans en vers du XIIIe siècle (Meraugis de Portlesguez de Raoul de Houdenc, Le Roman de Silence d'Heldris de Cornouailles et Claris et Laris), qui abordent tous la thématique du travestissement. Cette forme de déguisement, qui abonde dans la littérature médiévale, a particulièrement inspiré les médiévistes intéressés par le domaine des Gender Studies. Il est néanmoins possible de lire le travestissement de ces trois personnages à partir d'une autre approche critique et d'y voir le reflet de la poétique des auteurs. En effet, il arrive dans le roman en vers du XIII e siècle, que la métaphore textile – qui d'un point de vue étymologique renvoie à la fois au tissu qui recouvre un corps et au texte même – devienne une stratégie parodique de l'auteur. Au travestissement d'un personnage correspond dès lors, sur le plan de la poétique de l'œuvre, un bestornement (renversement) des motifs arthuriens de la tradition. Une attention particulière sera d'abord accordée à l'ensemble des références textiles présentes dans le corpus à l'étude, puis aux travestissements thématiques. Enfin, certains motifs dissociés de l'univers textile feront l'objet d'une étude pour définir plus largement comment s'articule la parodie chez ces trois romanciers du XIIIe siècle.

During the 14th and 15th centuries, some of the romances and epics stemming from the central Middle Ages were translated into prose at the Court of Burgundy. Among those are Chrétien de Troyes' Cligès (ca. 1176) and Gerbert de Montreuil's le Roman de la Violette (ca. 1227-1229), both of which were rewritten into prose by anonymous authors around the middle of the 15th century (ca. 1455 and ca. 1451). Although literary criticism as often only seen the documentary value of these mises en prose, the poetics of the romance went through various transformations from the 12th to the 15th century. Weaved with intertextuality, both Cligès and le Roman de la Violette originally present themselves as antiromances holding the keys to their own criticism. But as the intertextual strategies undergo massive changes, the antiromance aspects of the versified romances disappear from the rewritten works. Those are then perceived as simple stories of romance and chivalry (« d'armes et d'amour »), influencing the modern idea of the medieval romance. This thesis will examine how the strategies of self-reflexivity, evident marks of intertextuality, literary techniques and parodic games involving commonplaces and motifs of the marvellous evolve from the sources to the rewritten versions. This comparison will allow us to better define the practice of the mise en prose and see how the rewritten novels fit into a new « horizon of expectations » (Hans Robert Jauss) brought by the 15th century. / Le Moyen Âge central a vu quelques-uns de ses romans et chansons de geste être mis en prose à la cour de Bourgogne au cours des XIVe et XVe siècles. Parmi ceux-ci figure Cligès, de Chrétien de Troyes (ca. 1176), et le Roman de la Violette (ca. 1227-1229), de Gerbert de Montreuil, réécrits en prose au milieu du XVe siècle (ca. 1455 et ca. 1451) par des auteurs anonymes. Si la critique s'est souvent limitée à attribuer une valeur documentaire aux mises en prose, il n'en demeure pas moins que la poétique du roman subit, du XIIe au XVe siècle, d'importantes modifications. Pétris d'intertextualité, le Cligès et le Roman de la Violette apparaissent comme des antiromans capables de procéder à leur propre examen critique. On assiste toutefois à une véritable redéfinition des stratégies intertextuelles et parodiques dans les réécritures en prose, si bien que la dimension antiromanesque qui caractérisait les romans en vers disparaît des texte remaniés, qui s'apparentent dès lors à l'image de simple récit « d'armes et d'amour » que l'histoire littéraire a gardée du roman médiéval. Il s'agira donc de voir comment les stratégies autoréflexives, les marques d'intertextualité manifestes, les techniques littéraires et les jeux parodiques avec les lieux communs et les motifs merveilleux évoluent des « textes-sources » aux réécritures. Ce travail comparatif permettra tout aussi bien de mieux définir la pratique de la mise en prose que de révéler en quoi les romans remaniés correspondent à un nouvel « horizon d'attente » (Hans Robert Jauss) propre au XVe siècle.

The first part of this thesis is an analysis of the priest in a selection of erotic fabliaux written between the 12th and 14th centuries (Gombert et les deus clers, Le Prestre taint, Le Vilain de Bailluel and Le Prestre ki abevete). While the "anticlericalism" of the fabliaux is toned down by the differences between the types of the cleric and the priest, this analysis dwells on the figures of the deceived priest and the deceitful one. Through the study of the deceitful priest, it demonstrates that the duper offers a mise en abyme of the author and the jongleur in action, used by the fabliau to rehabilitate the fiction and to examine the power of speech and language, which helps unveil the "mecanic" of the genre and the types of medieval literature.The second part of this thesis is a narrative text that uses some traits of the drama genre to create a distance between the reader and the characters, who live in a small village where a certain lack of interest for religion rules. These inhabitants will be thrilled by the announce and arrival of a young priest, Adagio. Soon, this newcomer will become the object of all discussions and all rumors, so much so that he will exist only through others' words. / Dans un premier temps, ce mémoire propose une analyse de la poétique du personnage du prêtre dans un choix de fabliaux érotiques écrits entre les XIIe et XIVe siècles (Gombert et les deus clers, Le Prestre taint, Le Vilain de Bailluel et Le Prestre ki abevete). Tout en permettant de nuancer « l'anticléricalisme » des fabliaux par la différenciation des types du clerc et du prêtre, cette analyse s'attarde à la figure du prêtre trompé et du prêtre trompeur. Par l'étude de ce personnage rusé, elle concourt à démontrer que le prêtre trompeur constitue bien souvent une mise en abyme des figures de l'auteur et du jongleur en représentation dont se sert le fabliau pour réhabiliter la fiction et interroger la puissance de la parole et du langage, ce qui contribue à dévoiler la « mécanique » du genre et des motifs de la littérature médiévale. La seconde partie de ce mémoire, dite d'écriture littéraire, propose un texte narratif qui utilise certaines caractéristiques du genre dramatique pour créer un effet de distanciation devant le spectacle de ce village, où règne un certain désintérêt religieux, mais qui se voit heurté par l'annonce et l'arrivée d'un jeune prêtre, Adagio. Ce nouvel arrivant deviendra le sujet de toutes les discussions et de toutes les rumeurs, au point de n'exister qu'à travers la parole d'autrui.

This thesis seeks to assert the literary merit of the Middle English alliterative translation, William of Palerne, which has been dismissed by earlier critics of the poem as, at best, a mediocre work by an incompetent poet. It demonstrates that previous criticism of the poem has generally misunderstood its key elements, such as magic, as well as the poet's use of certain self-reflexive techniques to convey meaning. By tracing the poet's treatment of the magical and pseudo-magical events in the poem, and the alterations that the English translator makes to the original French version, the thesis reveals the sophistication involved in the poet's examination of human nature and of order in society. Furthermore, the thesis illustrates that through the repeated models of perception in the romance, the poet actually provides his audience with models for reading the text, and stresses the importance of interpretation by exploring the ability of outer appearance to represent inner Truth.

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Recognized as the first medieval instances of the romance genre, the Roman de Thebes, Roman d'Enéas, Roman de Brut and Roman de Troie (ca. 1150-1165) are based on the rewriting of Latin texts deeply rooted in history. Yet few studies have explored the relationship between these romans d'antiquité and medieval historiography, as a literary genre (estoire and historia). There has indeed been a tendency amongst critics to focus on a thematic analysis of the links between the "first romances" and history, at the expense of a more generic approach. Our task, therefore, is to show that this corpus can be defined by its conscious – and subversive – relationship with medieval historiography. By combining the Jaussian approach of the theory of genres with the methods of "New Philology", we shall first establish that the medieval readers interpreted romans d'antiquité not only as romance, but also as works of historiography. This double interpretation, confirmed on various accounts by the manuscripts, will then be explained by a poetic structure that playfully blurs the line between generic distinctions. Hence it will appear that the "first novelist" deliberately use the conventions of historiography in order to lay the foundation of a genre that will maintain a close, yet complicated, relationship with history. / Fondés sur la réécriture d'ouvrages latins et médio-latins à forte teneur historique, les romans de Thèbes, d'Éneas, de Brut et de Troie (ca. 1150-1165) signent la « naissance du roman » en empruntant leur sujet à l'histoire. Pourtant, peu d'études ont été consacrées aux liens qui se tissent entre ces romans d'antiquité et la tradition historiographique en tant que genre littéraire (« estoire » et « historia »). La critique tend en effet à approcher les rapports entre l'historiographie et le genre romanesque naissant d'un point de vue strictement thématique de sorte qu'elle néglige souvent d'interroger leurs interactions génériques. Il s'agira donc de démontrer que les premières œuvres romanesques peuvent se définir par leur rapport conscient – et subversif – au genre historiographique médiéval. En conjuguant l'approche jaussienne de la théorie des genres aux méthodes de la « nouvelle philologie », il faudra d'abord établir que la réception médiévale du corpus se laisse infléchir par une double lecture historiographique et romanesque. Cette confusion typologique, diversement relayée par le témoignage des codices, pourra ensuite s'expliquer par une contexture poétique qui se joue des distinctions génériques. Il apparaîtra ainsi que les premiers romanciers convoquent délibérément les conventions de l'historiographie pour poser un geste fondateur dans l'histoire du genre romanesque : ils érigent une frontière – poreuse – entre roman et histoire.

Medieval narrative accounts of female misbehaviour reflect deep social perceptions and expectations grounded in ideas of gender. The women described in the twelfth-century non-fiction narratives analysed in this thesis had not behaved in an objectively "bad" way, judged by legal or moral standards. Rather, the disapproving depiction of women's behaviour reflects the author's concern with the women's goals and intentions, rather than their specific actions. In all the episodes I analysed, I found a search for autonomy and independence from social and cultural control on the part of the women. It is this wilful desire for autonomy that incurs the medieval authors' disapproval. The first chapter focuses on marital choice, one of the few areas of medieval social life in which young women could express a certain degree of independent judgement in spite of familial, social, and cultural constraints. I argue that female resistance to outside pressure is often depicted in exaggerated misogynistic tones. On the other hand, female behaviour which inspires the approval of an author is often transposed into masculine characteristics. In the second chapter, the focus shifts to widowhood. In narrative depictions of widows, the deep connection between the exercise of female autonomy and medieval misogynistic discourse emerges. Medieval perceptions of gender necessarily rested on the core concept of female subordination as natural and necessary to social organization. Actions that challenged this assumption were invariably cast in a negative light. Widows seeking to sever the ties that bound them to male guardians are represented in highly critical terms. / Les comptes rendus narratifs médiévaux du mauvais comportement des femmes sont profondément ancrés dans des perceptions sociales et des attentes qui découlent de notions du genre. Les femmes décrites dans ces récits non fictifs du douzième siècle et qui font l'objet de ce mémoire n'ont pas eu un mauvais comportement selon les normes légales ou morales de l'époque. Ce sont les objectifs et les intentions des femmes, plutôt que leurs gestes précis qui figurent comme source d'inquiétude dans ces textes. Dans tous les épisodes analysés, j'ai découvert une quête d'autonomie et d'indépendance des femmes par rapport aux contrôles social et culturel. C'est ce désir volontaire d'autonomie qui suscite la désapprobation des auteurs médiévaux. Le premier chapitre est axé sur le choix matrimonial, un des rares domaines de la vie sociale médiévale où les jeunes femmes pouvaient exprimer un certain jugement indépendant en dépit des contraintes familiales, sociales et culturelles. Je soutiens que la résistance des femmes à la pression extérieure est souvent représentée sur des tons mysogynes exagérés. D'autre part, le comportement féminin qui inspire l'approbation d'un auteur est souvent transposé en caractéristiques masculines. Dans le deuxième chapitre, l'accent est mis sur la question du veuvage. Dans les représentations narratives des veuves, le lien profond entre l'exercice de l'autonomie féminine et le discours misogyne médiéval émerge. La perception médiévale du genre des sexes reposait forcément sur le concept central de la subordination des femmes comme étant naturel et nécessaire à l'organisation sociale. Les actions qui font fi de cet ordre des choses furent invariablement narrées de façon négative. Les veuves qui cherchent à briser les liens qui les unissent à leurs gardiens mâles sont notamment représentées en termes très critiques.

At the end of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, when Bertilak de Hautdesert reveals Morgan le Fay’s involvement in Gawain’s quest, the Pearl Poet introduces a difficult problem for scholars and students of the text. Morgan appears out of nowhere, and it is difficult to understand the poet’s intentions for including her so late in his narrative. The premise for this thesis is that the loathly lady motif helps explain Morgan’s appearance and Gawain’s symbolic importance in the poem. Through a study of the loathly lady motif, I argue it is possible that the Pearl Poet was using certain aspects of the motif to inform his story. Chapter one of this thesis will focus on the origins of the loathly lady motif and the literary origins of Morgan le Fay. In order to understand the connotations of the loathly lady stories, it is important to study both the Irish tales and the later English versions of the motif. My study of Morgan will trace her beginnings as a pagan healer goddess to her later variations in French and Middle English literature. The second chapter will discuss the influential women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and their specific importance to the text. It will examine Queen Guinevere, Bertilak’s lady and Morgan le Fay. This chapter will also analyze three contemporary Middle English texts: John Gower’s The Tale of Florent, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale, and “The Weddyng of Syr Gawen to Dame Ragnell.” The loathly lady motif was popular at the end of the fourteenth century, which lends evidence to the argument that the Pearl Poet was familiar with the motif. Finally, the third chapter will provide an exploration of Gawain’s role as the loathly lady’s knight and the symbolism of Gawain’s shield and green girdle, the setting of Hautdesert and the Green Chapel, and the Pearl Poet’s emphasis on family relations. Ultimately, I argue that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an untraditional loathly lady story that uses the motif’s themes and symbolism to emphasize the poem’s feminine landscape and the importance of Morgan le Fay.

From the Icelandic Svarfaðardalur translates to “unruly valley.” The Saga of the People of Svarfadardal proves to be all of this while touching on issues of political power, loyalty and honor. The complexities of the saga have traditionally posed problems that restricted an understanding of the text while barring shape to the characters. The saga leads its audience through events that when interpreted, can vary through individual viewpoint and experience, putting audience analysis at the core of Svarfdæla. From its scattered, inconsistent beginnings, the study presented here shows the path taken by each character through to the saga’s finish. Each character is permitted a consistency to their persona, allowing their interaction with one another coherency. In the end, Yngvild Fair-cheek and her infamous words take on a valid and realistic purpose, releasing her of her cold-hearted image.