Constantinople and the West in Medieval French Literature: Renewal and Utopia

Author:   Rima Devereaux
Publisher:   Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Volume:   v. 25
ISBN:  

9781843843023


Pages:   248
Publication Date:   19 April 2012
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Constantinople and the West in Medieval French Literature: Renewal and Utopia


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Overview

An indepth examination of the presentation of Constantinople and its complex relationship with the west in medieval French texts. Medieval France saw Constantinople as something of a quintessential ideal city. Aspects of Byzantine life were imitated in and assimilated to the West in a movement of political and cultural renewal, but the Byzantine capital wasalso celebrated as the locus of a categorical and inimitable difference. This book analyses the debate between renewal and utopia in Western attitudes to Constantinople as it evolved through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in a series of vernacular (Old French, Occitan and Franco-Italian) texts, including the Pelerinage de Charlemagne, Girart de Roussillon, Partonopeus de Blois, the poetry of Rutebeuf, and the chronicles by Geoffroy de Villehardouin and Robert de Clari, both known as the Conquete de Constantinople. It establishes how the texts' representation of the West's relationship with Constantinople enacts this debate between renewal andutopia; demonstrates that analysis of this relationship can contribute to a discussion on the generic status of the texts themselves; and shows that the texts both react to the socio-cultural context in which they were produced, and fulfil a role within that context. Dr Rima Devereaux is an independent scholar based in London.

Full Product Details

Author:   Rima Devereaux
Publisher:   Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Imprint:   D.S. Brewer
Volume:   v. 25
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.001kg
ISBN:  

9781843843023


ISBN 10:   1843843021
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   19 April 2012
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction Making Sense of History: East-West Relations and the Idea of the City in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries Renewal and Utopia: Two Paradigms for Understanding East-West Relations in Medieval French Texts Aemulatio: The Limitations of East-West Alliance Admiratio: Utopia as Social Critique Translatio Embodied? Renewal, Truth and the Status of Constantinople in Thirteenth-Century Didactic Texts Renovatio as Commemoration: Civic Loyalty and the Latin Empire of Constantinople as Venetian Historiography Conclusion Appendix 1: Original Latin Quotations Appendix 2: References to Constantinople in Other Epics and Romances Appendix 3: Outline of Events in the History of East-West Relations from the Second Crusade to the Palaeologan Reconquest Bibliography

Reviews

Rima Devereaux's study is simultaneously broad yet detailed, drawing together people, places, and peregrinations to explore the literary representation of the Byzantine capital in ten Old French and Franco-Italian works of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. (A) thought-provoking and accessible study of Eastern and Western 'sites of power' (...), in which Constantinople is seen to be a function or process as much as a physical space. FRENCH STUDIES


Rima Devereaux's study is simultaneously broad yet detailed, drawing together people, places, and peregrinations to explore the literary representation of the Byzantine capital in ten Old French and Franco-Italian works of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. [A] thought-provoking and accessible study of Eastern and Western 'sites of power' [...], in which Constantinople is seen to be a function or process as much as a physical space. * FRENCH STUDIES *


Rima Devereaux's study is simultaneously broad yet detailed, drawing together people, places, and peregrinations to explore the literary representation of the Byzantine capital in ten Old French and Franco-Italian works of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. [A] thought-provoking and accessible study of Eastern and Western 'sites of power' [...], in which Constantinople is seen to be a function or process as much as a physical space. FRENCH STUDIES


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