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Women of words in 'Le morte Darthur' : The autonomy of speech in Malory's female characters by Siobhán M. Wyatt is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is Women of words in 'Le morte Darthur' : The autonomy of speech in Malory's female characters about?

Offering a new reading of Malory's famed text,  Le Morte Darthur , this book provides the first full-length survey of the alterations Malory made to female characters in his source texts. Through detailed comparisons with both Old French and Middle English material, Siobhán M. Wyatt discusses how Malory radically altered his French and English source texts to create a gendered pattern in the reliability of speech, depicting female discourse as valuable and truthful. Malory's authorial crafting indicates his preference for a certain "type" of female character: self-governing, opinionated, and strong. Simultaneously, the portrayal of this very readable "type" yields characterization. While late medieval court records indicate an increasingly negative attitude towards female speech and a tendency to punish vociferous women as "scolds," Malory makes the words of chiding damsels constructive. While his contemporary writers suppress the powers of magical women, Malory empowers his enchantress characters; while the authors of his French source texts accentuate Guinevere's flaws, Malory portrays her with sympathy.

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Author

Siobhán M. Wyatt

Publisher

Springer International Publishing, Cham

Published

2016

Language

EN

ISBN

9783319342047

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

Literary Criticism, Literary Fiction, History