|
Whitening and Demonizing the Saracen Woman in Medieval French Epic
by Professor Jacqueline De Weever (Author)
"The power of art, the magician, to "bring about that black becomes white," among other transformations of the undesirable to the desirable, is precisely the theme of this study..."
The Saracens were the "black devils" of medieval epics and romances, and medieval biblical exegesis and critical canons made it clear that the color black always had only the most negative connotations. However, the daughters of these "black devils" were usually described as beautiful white maidens who married the white Christian knight at the conclusion of these same epics and romances. This self-contradictory presentation is addressed in this ground-breaking and exhaustive study of the problem of poetic representation of a "black" heroine as white and the resulting chaos when language proves inadequate to support such representation. Exploring how the depiction of otherness or alterity during the Middle Ages became problematic in the aesthetics of the Romance epics written during the centuries of the Crusades, this book offers a vital contribution to the growing interest in the way foreign women are presented in the texts of the Latin West and will be of consuming interest to students in women's studies, cultural studies, and medieval literature.
The texts considered are written in the major European languages of the time and range from the Song of Songs through Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria Nova to such epics and romances as Erec et Enide, Doon de Maience, Fierabras, La Prise d'Orange, Ars Versificatoria, The Sowdone of Babylone, and Parzifal.
Sheba's Daughters, investigates how, in epics of the Crusade era, the daughters of the black devil Saracens turned out white, gentle, and often married to the European knight hero at the end of the tale. Especially looks at the contortions of language necessary to make the change. Short passages in the text are in the original and English; longer excerpts, again with translations, are appended. The study contributes to the current interest in the interpretation of foreigners, especially women.
- Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Ch. 1 Whitening the Saracen: The Erasure of Alterity 3
Ch. 2 Demonizing the Saracen: The Inscription of the Monstrous Other 53
Ch. 3 Subversions of Treachery and the Beautiful Easterner 111
Ch. 4 Paradox and the Discourse of Protest 149
Ch. 5 Conclusion 187
App Portraits and Translations 197
Bibliography 225
Index 245
Journal issues of note:
(1) Arthuriana
16.4 (2006), a special issue on Saracens in Malory, guest edited by Jacqueline de Weever. "Saracens and Black Knights" by Maghan Keita, on the African presence in Malory. Donald Hoffman's "Assimilating Saracens."
Jacqueline de Weever is a retired Medieval Literature teacher from Brooklyn College, born in Guyana.
(Hardcover)
|
