This study offers a typology of the go-between across key texts from antiquity and several medieval literary traditions, analyzing the role of the third party in the poetics of love. The work provides the indispensable context for the study of the significant transformations undergone by the go-between. Legal and scientific sources are taken into account alongside Latin, French, and English literary works and literature of the medieval Islamic period for the critique of differences and intertextual links which inform the conception of the go-between. The case of the Medieval Spanish go-between is given a special attention due to the figure's complex relationship with diverse traditions. The range covered in the work provides a comprehensive view of the figure's trajectory and representation in each text.
Author(s): Leyla Rouhi
Series: Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 93
Publisher: Brill
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 322
City: Leiden
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: The Medieval Go-Between: A Problem for Comparative Literature 1
Chapter One: The Go-Between in Classical Latin Texts 13
I. Carnal Love in Latin Literature: A Definition of Parameters 13
II. The Comedies of Plautus 19
(i) The Social Background to Intermediary Activity 19
(ii) Intermediary Activity in the Comedies: 'Asinaria', 'Aulularia', 'Cistellaria', 'Mostellaria' and 'Curculio' 20
III. The Case of Roman Elegy 32
(i) The Bawds of Tibullus 32
(ii) Propertius' Acanthis 38
(iii) The Transformation of Elegy: Ovid's Dipsas in the 'Amores' 41
IV. Towards a Theory of Intermediary Activity: Ovid's 'Ars amatoria' 47
V. Outside the Realm of Courtesans: The Intermediary in Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' 52
VI. Narrative Prose: The Old Bawd in Apuleius' 'Metamorphoses' 55
VII. Conclusion 60
Chapter Two: The Medieval European Go-Between 64
I. (i) The Social Background: Christian Doctrine and Profane Love 64
(ii) The Question of Intertextuality 67
II. The Twelfth Century: The Spirit of Courtly Love 69
(i) The Twelfth-Century French 'Romans d'antiquité' 71
(ii) Chrétien de Troyes and the Arthurian World 75
(iii) The 'De Amore' of Andreas Capellanus 80
III. The Non-Courtly Spirit 85
(i) The Go-Between in Medieval Latin Comedy 85
(ii) Goliardic Verse 94
IV. The Thirteenth Century 96
(i) The Pseudo-Ovidian 'De Vetula' 96
(ii) The Bawd in the 'Fabliaux' 98
(iii) The Old Woman of 'Le Roman de la Rose' 103
V. The Fourteenth Century 109
(i) The Go-Between in Boccaccio's 'Decameron' 109
(ii) Geoffrey Chaucer 115
(a) The Transformation of the Go-Between in 'Troilus and Criseyde' 115
(b) The Transformation of the Bawd: Dame Alisoun in the 'Canterbury Tales' 124
VI. Conclusions 129
Chapter Three: The Medieval Near-Eastern Go-Between 135
I. Intermediary Activity and Society 135
II. The Perception of the Old Woman in Popular Literature and Society 143
III. (i) The Topic of Earthly Love in Medieval Islamic Texts 146
(ii) The Further Exploration of Carnal Love and the Go-Between: Treatises on Erotology 153
IV. The Literary Representation of the Go-Between 159
(i) Tales in the Popular Spirit 159
(a) 'The Forty Parrots' 159
(b) The 'Thousand and One Nights' 162
(c) The 'Sindbad' Cycle 171
(ii) The Learned Spirit 174
(a) Typology by Default: The Case of 'Layla and Majnun' 175
(b) The Private and Public Go-Between: 'Vis and Ramin' 176
(c) Matrimony and the Go-Between: The 'Seven Princesses' 185
(d) Feminine Sexuality and the Go-Between: 'Yusuf and Zuleikha' 187
V. A Necessary Counterpoint for Literature: The 'Bahr al-Fava'id' and the Question of Right and Wrong 196
VI. Conclusion 201
Chapter Four: The Medieval Spanish 'alcahueta' 204
I. Preliminary Observations: A Reassessment of Near-Eastern and European Go-Betweens 204
II. The Special Case of the Medieval Spanish Go-Between 205
III. The Mother as Third Party in the Early Lyric of Spain 209
IV. The Go-Between in the 'Disciplina clericalis' of Pedro Alfonso, 'Calila y Digna', and the 'Libro de los engannos' 214
V. An Uncharacteristic Case from the 'Cantigas de Santa Maria' 221
VI. A Question of Discourse: the Case of 'El caballero Zifar' 224
VII. The Emergence of Go-Between as a Literary Character: Trotaconventos in 'El libro de buen amor' 226
(i) The Meeting of Traditions: Genre and Meaning 226
(ii) Trotaconventos and the Bawd of the 'Pamphilus' 233
(iii) Trotaconventos and the 'Mudéjar' Tradition 239
(iv) Narrative Structure and the Go-Between 240
(v) Elements of Discourse 246
VIII. The Go-Between as Principal Literary Character: 'La Celestina' 256
(i) The Essential Frameworks of 'alcahueteria' for 'La Celestina' of Fernando de Rojas: Sources and Traditions 256
(ii) Celestina: the Creation of a New Frame of Reference 261
(iii) Elements of Discourse 264
(a) The Reappropriation of the Commonplace 264
(b) Persuasion and Violence 267
(c) The Humanizing Aspect of Discourse 275
(iv) The Paradox of Celestina 280
(v) Celestina: The Reconfiguration of the Triangle 282
Conclusion: Towards a Theory of Seduction 287
Bibliography 295
Index 307
