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Neophilologus (2010) 94:407419 DOI 10.1007/s11061-009-9175-7
Anne Reynders
Published online: 1 October 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract One of the more striking features of the twelfth century old French verse romance Partonopeu de Blois is the substantial change the heroine undergoes in the course of the romance proper. In the beginning as powerful and imperative as the fairy mistresses of the lai, Melior loses her magical powers at an early stage and when she marries the hero in the end she has becomeat least apparentlya passive and submissive victim. Modern scholars have appreciated this evolution in many different ways. The most intriguing question seems to be how the contemporary audience may have reacted to this loss of power of the heroine. Did it welcome Meliors degradation as a return to the traditional social order or not? In an attempt to answer this question, this article explores two thirteenth century rewritings of the romance proper: the old French continuation as it is attested by manuscript T and the Middle Dutch adaptation of Partonopeu. Both versions add a considerable amount of text to the romance proper in which Melior plays an important part.
Keywords Partonopeu de Blois Romance proper Continuation
Parthonopeus van Bloys Female characters
Dans le Roman de Partonopeu de Blois, la scne est fortement inuence par la prsence de plusieurs femmes qui dtiennent des rles la fois diversis et variables. Depuis quelques dcennies dj, les rles sociaux de ces personnages fminins ont retenu lattention de mdivistes anglo-saxonnes qui se sont concentres sur lvolution de Mlior, lhrone du roman. Mais ces mdivistes, mme si elles font partie du mme courant intellectuel anglo-saxon, ne portent pas
A. Reynders (&)
Lessius - K.U.Leuven, Sint-Andriesstraat 2, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium e-mail: [email protected]
Mlior de Chef dOire: manipulatrice habile ou femme rsigne? Les rcritures du Partonopeu de Bloiset le rle social de lhrone dans le roman propre
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toujours le mme jugement sur le rle, voire le comportement de lhrone. Et leurs conclusions relatives la raction du public historique (soit masculin, soit fminin) ces rles sociaux scartent encore davantage.
Dans une telle discussion, il peut savrer intressant danalyser les rcritures de luvre en question. Chaque rcriture, quil sagisse dun remaniement, dune continuation ou dune traduction, est base...