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Literary Criticism Medieval

Beasts of Love

Richard de Fournival's Bestiaire d'amour and the Response

by (author) Jeanette Beer

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Mar 2003
Category
Medieval
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802036124
    Publish Date
    Apr 2003
    List Price
    $62
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442671195
    Publish Date
    Mar 2003
    List Price
    $75.00

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Description

The first gendered prose debate in a European vernacular, Le Bestiaire d'amour and subsequent Response constitute a clash of opposites: a medieval chancellor's erotic bestiary to a woman is countered by the woman's passionate protest against the cleric's misogynistic presuppositions. Jeanette Beer presents a close, linear reading of the two literary texts, examining the context that led to the love-bestiary's production in the thirteenth century, especially an influential version of the Physiologus by Pierre de Beauvais, the suggestiveness of the animal symbolism, and the aftermath of the debate.

In her exploration of Le Bestiaire d'amour and the Response, Beer analyzes the disparity of their sexual, philosophical, and theological orientations, and considers, animal by animal, this gendered duelling of the two bestiaries, the symbolism of the one calqued upon the symbolism of the other. Largely neglected for seven hundred years, Le Bestiaire d'amour and the Response address issues that are universally relevant: male and female expectations in love, sexual dominance, sexual exploitation, and female strategies for self-preservation in a society where women were powerless and vulnerable.

About the author

Jeanette Beer is Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Purdue University. Her many other books include a translation of the Le Bestiaire d'amour and the Response, published in 1986.

Jeanette Beer's profile page