‘De voix femmenine’: Self, Voice and Emotive Display in Jean d’Arras’s Mélusine
In: Emotions: History, Culture, SocietySearch for other papers by Meritxell R. de la Torre in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
The 14th century French romance Mélusine ou la Noble Histoire de Lusignan focuses on the peculiar founding mother of the house of Lusignan, who, due to a curse imposed by her fairy mother, is forced to transform in secrecy into a half-serpent, half-human figure every Saturday. The romance depicts her life after the curse and her ultimate exile after her husband discovers her in her hybrid form. As the lady flies away fully transformed into a giant serpent, however, marks of her enduring selfhood prevail: first, in a mark embedded in a windowsill in the shape of a foot and later, as a voiced emotional complaint, described as the voice of a woman. The serpent’s emotive display confirms the existence of a stable, yet malleable core selfhood in the character that prevails through her embodied changes. The goal is to establish emotive display as an effective tool to access narrated selfhood in the romance.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 176 | 176 | 11 |
| Full Text Views | 18 | 18 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 64 | 64 | 0 |
‘De voix femmenine’: Self, Voice and Emotive Display in Jean d’Arras’s Mélusine
In: Emotions: History, Culture, SocietySearch for other papers by Meritxell R. de la Torre in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
The 14th century French romance Mélusine ou la Noble Histoire de Lusignan focuses on the peculiar founding mother of the house of Lusignan, who, due to a curse imposed by her fairy mother, is forced to transform in secrecy into a half-serpent, half-human figure every Saturday. The romance depicts her life after the curse and her ultimate exile after her husband discovers her in her hybrid form. As the lady flies away fully transformed into a giant serpent, however, marks of her enduring selfhood prevail: first, in a mark embedded in a windowsill in the shape of a foot and later, as a voiced emotional complaint, described as the voice of a woman. The serpent’s emotive display confirms the existence of a stable, yet malleable core selfhood in the character that prevails through her embodied changes. The goal is to establish emotive display as an effective tool to access narrated selfhood in the romance.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 176 | 176 | 11 |
| Full Text Views | 18 | 18 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 64 | 64 | 0 |