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A Fair Lady Takes on “Maistre Allain”Anne de Graville’s Belle Dame sans mercy
- French Forum
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Volume 42, Number 3, Winter 2017
- pp. 471-491
- 10.1353/frf.2017.0044
- Article
- Additional Information
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Abstract:
Anne Malet de Graville, a well-educated noblewoman from a family of bibliophiles with close connections to the crown, served as a lady in waiting at the intimate and austere court of Queen Claude I of France. Claude cultivated the virtuous accomplishments of her ladies, and de Graville appears to have been a favored companion of the queen, for whom she composed two literary works, each based upon the work of a prestigious medieval master. One was a translation and adaptation of Boccaccio’s epic romance, Teseida, and the other, the focal point of the present article, a rewriting of La Belle Dame sans mercy (LBDSM), perhaps the best-known work of the so-called “père de l’éloquence française,” the royal secretary, diplomat, and author, Alain Chartier.