The feminization of the literary voice and the rhetorical tradition in The Lais of Marie de France, The Mirror of Simple Souls, and The Book of the City of Ladies
Abstract
Description
This study demonstrates how The Lais of Marie de France (12th c.) by Marie de France,
The Mirror of Simple Souls (14th c.) by Marguerite Porete, and Christine de Pizan’s The Book of
City of Ladies (15th c.) serve as the three progressive steps in the transformation of the rhetorical
theory and the feminine literary voice, redefining woman from the idea of inferior entity written
by men over centuries into the concept of an intellectual and virtuous female human being.
The development of a strong feminine literary voice starts as de France feminizes the
masculine language she borrows from masculine oral tradition to write narrative poetry, enriched
with a feminine perspective. A century later, Porete assumes solely feminine language—through
the voice of a female soul that she makes available to the male soul—in a theological treatise that
annuls the role of the Church to attain spiritual purity during this life. Subsequently, Pizan, in the
fifteenth century, writes the first directly-stated defense for womankind, applying feminist
literary criticism to important paternalistic texts, assuming an exclusively feminine voice, and
providing a reinterpretation of history and mythology.
The first chapter of this thesis discusses the historical development of the concept of
woman written by men, including a brief account of Sappho’s literary merit as the last of a group
of women who produced literature before the fifth century B.C.E. The next three chapters are
dedicated to each of the three texts, and the final chapter explains the link between the texts, the
relevance of knowing and remembering the talent and effort necessary to redefine woman in a
literary world still dominated by men, and proposes options for further study in literature,
psychology of education, and literary historiography.
PDF; 119 pgs.
PDF; 119 pgs.
Keywords
The Lais of Marie de France, Marie, de France, active 12th century. Lais, Mirror of Simple Souls, Porete, Marguerite, approximately 1250-1310. Miroir des simples ames., The Book of the City of Ladies, Christine, de Pisan, approximately 1364-approximately 1431. Livre de la cite des dames, Feminism and literature--France--History--To 1500, Women and literature--France--History--To 1500, Authorship--Sex differences--History--To 1500, Feminist literary criticism--France--History--To 1500, Women in literature, Gender identity in literature, Lays--History and criticism