Songs of the Women Troubadours / Edition 1

by Laurie Shepard, Sarah White, Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner

Overview

This work offers an edition and translation of some 30 poems by the trobairitz, a remarkable group of women poets from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, who composed in the style and language of the troubadours. Introductory essays and notes by specialists in the field place the poems in literary, linguistic, historical, social and cultural contexts. English versions facing Occitan texts elucidate the original language and themes, while supplying poems that can be enjoyed by contemporary readers . The varied corpus includes love songs (cansos), debate poems (tensos), political satires (sirventes) and other lyrical sub-genres (including dawn-song, lament, ballad, chanson de mal mariee). To represent the range of female voices available in the lyric corpus of the troubadours, the editors have selected songs consistently attributed to historically documented women poets, as well as songs whose authorship is open to question. The latter may be presented by the manuscripts with or without a named woman poet, but all offer female speakers personae characteristic of troubadour poets in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815335689
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/20/2000
Series:	Garland Library of Medieval Literature
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner is Professor of French at Boston College. Laurie Shepard is Associate Professor of Italian at Boston College. Sarah White is Emerita Professor of French at Franklin and Marshall College.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents: Foreword by W. S. Merwin, Preface, Introduction, Manuscripts Consulted, Bibliography, Note on the Texts, Note on the Translations, Cansos, Tensos, Sirventes, Planh, Salut d'Amor, Balada, Alba, Fragments, End Notes, Pronunciation Guide, Index of Poets and Poetic Terms

Editorial Reviews

"Highly recommended for Old Provencal literature scholars and all those interested in love poetry." — Library Journal
"Highly recommended for upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and faculty audiences." — Choice

From the Publisher

Scholars and poets have written about and edited extensively poems of the troubadours, who flourished in southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries. This edition presents poems of the trobairitz, 20 identifiable and several anonymous women troubadours who wrote between 1170 and 1260 after the first generation of male troubadours and who ceased to write before the last generation. Because the editors intend this edition to be a script for performance, the editing is conservative, with regularization of rhyme only when necessary and few emendations in orthography. In a good example, translator Sarah White conveys vividly a troubairitz chagrin when her lover must depart at dawn-"En un vergier sotz fuella d'albespi"- a charming alba or dawn song with a refrain. Highly recommended for Old Provenal literature scholars and all those interested in love poetry.-Bob Ivey, Memphis State Univ.

Library Journal

On facing pages of the Occitan originals and English translations, 30 poems by the trobairitz, women poets of the 12th and 13th centuries who composed in the style and themes of the troubadours. They include love songs, debate poems, political satires, laments, ballads, and other genres. The introduction and notes provide a linguistic, literary, and historical framework. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews