French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Corbellari, The Middle Ages and Literary Criticism
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
The Middle Ages and Literary Criticism
Alain Corbellari
Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, "Libre cours" series, 2021
188 p. — 10 EUR — EAN : 9782379241703
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Histories of literary criticism are certainly not lacking, but the originality of this volume lies in demonstrating that medievalists have played a major and often unsuspected role in the development of its models.
Drawing on the author's thirty years of experience researching and teaching these subjects, the book offers a history of literary criticism viewed through the lens of medieval studies. Consequently, not every critical school is represented, though most find a place here—either because medievalists (in the broad sense of the term) invented or decisively shaped them, or because medieval literature and art provided them with examples capable of clarifying and reinforcing their principles.
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Contents
Read the book online via Cairn…
Chapter I - Philology as the Pilot Science
The ancient origins of philology
The humanist revival
German scholarship and Romance philology
The birth of literary history
Towards a new philology
Chapter II - Medieval-Style Formalism
The origin of tales
Chansons de geste and oral tradition
The problem of the troubadours
Paul Zumthor's "medieval poetics"
From the Grands Rhétoriqueurs to Oulipo
From the prose romance to transtextuality
Chapter III - From Rome to Tintagel
The glory and misery of allegory
The sources of medieval affectivity
The rediscovery of Medieval Latin
The empire of topoi
The revenge of Celtic studies: at the origins of cultural studies?
A pan-mythic Middle Ages
Chapter IV - The Middle Ages: So Far, So Close
New History and historical anthropology
Marxism and medieval literature
Bakhtin and popular culture
Denis de Rougemont and the West
Towards structural anthropology
At the crossroads of knowledge
The adventures of reception
Chapter V - Towards a Hermeneutics of Suspicion
The medieval "surplus"
Psychoanalytical readings
Medieval-style deconstruction
The invention of feminism
Mimetic desire and homosexuality
Post-colonialism before colonization?
A Middle Ages closer to nature?
Conclusion
Index of names
Index of subjects
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Published online on Cairn.info on 11/12/2021
ISBN 9782379241703
Online ISBN 9782379241727
Alain Corbellari approaches the history of literary criticism through the specific lens of medieval studies, highlighting how scholars of the period either invented major critical models or provided foundational examples for various schools of thought. Grounded in decades of academic research and teaching, the volume traces an intellectual trajectory from philology as a pilot science to formalist approaches, medieval poetics, and the complex networks of allegory and topoi. By examining these developments, the text sheds light on the often overlooked contributions of medievalists to modern theoretical frameworks.
This accessible yet rigorous overview will prove especially useful for students and scholars of literature, literary theory, and cultural history seeking to understand the deep historical roots of contemporary critical methods. Engaging with broader traditions such as historical anthropology, psychoanalytical readings, and the hermeneutics of suspicion, the work helps readers navigate the complex intersections between medieval texts and modern analytical tools. It offers valuable insights into how premodern art continues to clarify and reinforce theoretical principles across the humanities.