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The Evolution of Marie de France's Lanval

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Since the early fourteenth century, scholars, playwrights and screenplay writers have translated and reinterpreted Marie de France's Lanval. This lai in is the second most frequently translated throughout the medieval era and it continues to be reimagined and retold. All of the translations and reimagined renditions of the Lanval story have in common a strange tonality of otherworldly attraction, unusual gender dynamics, a curious new age aura, and elements of proto-feminism especially in terms of female agency, empowerment and eroticism. While some of these motifs seem to reflect more modern understandings of gender dynamics and conceptualizations of women, a critical analysis of Marie's original text in combination with an exploration of Celtic sources reveals that these motifs were always already present. These elements, stemming from Celtic oral traditions and finding their way across the often unnavigable barriers of time, culture, language, re-adaptation, and genre, establish Marie's Lanval as timeless.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Department dc:contributor.department
English
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2015

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Briscoe, Emma Caitlin
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Eska, Charlene M.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Colaianne, Anthony J.
  • George, Diana L.

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:5741
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/56669

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Briscoe, Emma Caitlin. The Evolution of Marie de France's Lanval. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/56669