Chapter Four. Literary And Socio-Cultural Aspects Of The Lais Of Marie De France

Abstract

This chapter offers an account of some of the myriad literary, socio-cultural, and socio-political aspects of the Lais, and provides an overview of the history of Marie's Lais and her identity. It examines the General Prologue and the prologue to Guigemar, and provides a presentation of many elements composing the complexity of the tales. The chapter reviews the principal character types in the love triangles in their repetition and variations, and gives a selective presentation of approaches, perspectives, and methods of 20th- and 21st-century scholars of the Lais. It enumerates recurring key words in the individual prologues and epilogues, and discusses selected objects, individually and grouped in triads; word-plays and puns. The chapter mentions several other distinctive features of Marie's narrative technique, and reviews socio-cultural and socio-political realities in the narratives.Keywords: Guigemar; Lais; literary aspects; Marie De France; socio-cultural aspects