Throughout the Middle Ages, many Francophone texts - "chansons de geste", medieval romance, works by Chrétien de Troyes and Marie de France - were widely translated in north-western Europe. In the process, these texts were frequently transformed to reflect the new cultures in which they appeared. This book argues that such translations, prime sites for cultural movement and encounters, provide a rich opportunity to study linguistic and cultural identity both in and through time. Via a close comparison of a number of these texts, examining the various modifications made, and drawing on a number of critical discourses ranging from post-colonial criticism to translation theory, the author explores the complexities of cultural dialogue and dissent. This approach both recognises and foregrounds the complex matrix of influence, resistance and transformations within the languages and cultural traditions of medieval Europe, revealing the undercurrents of cultural conflict apparent in medieval textuality.
Author(s): Sif Rikhardsdottir
Publisher: D. S. Brewer
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: XII+200
City: Cambridge
Acknowledgements vii
A Note on Translations viii
Timeline, 1100–1700 ix
Introduction 1
1. The Imperial Implications of Medieval Translations: Textual Transmission of Marie de France's "Lais" 24
2. Behavioural Transformations in the Old Norse Version of "La Chanson de Roland" 53
3. Narrative Transformations in the Old Norse and Middle English Versions of "Le Chevalier au Lion" (or "Yvain") 76
4. Female Sovereignty and Male Authority in the Old Norse and Middle English Versions of "Partonopeu de Blois" 113
Appendix: Summaries of the Versions of "Partonopeu de Blois" 152
Conclusion 164
Bibliography 169
Index 191
