Les belles [in]fidèles ou la traduction de l'ambiguïté masculine: Les Rondeaux d'Anne de Graville

Abstract

This article explores the means by which Anne de Graville, a French woman writer of the early Renaissance, attempts to "rewrite", that is to say "translate", the ambiguous text of Alain Chartier, a master of 15th-Century courtoisie, so as to make it espouse the new values of 16th-Century courtly life, which is closer in spirit to Christian morality. Anne de Graville's Rondeaux, inspired by the Belle dame sans mercy of Chartier, strive to expose a new and improved courtoisie, one in which noble women, as well as chevaliers, will be encouraged to use their "libre-arbitre". The new courtly code will enhance each individual's capacity, men and women's, to earn the admiration of others, the former in refraining to expose his passion, the latter in making chastity a priority. In Anne de Graville's rewriting, the dialogue between a "lover" and a "dame" shows how, contrary to common belief, women need to be as eloquent as men in order to avoid the many traps of beautiful speech and love mendacities.