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The Character Types in the Old French Chansons de Geste
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
“Le moyen age forme un anneau indispensable dans la chaîne de la transmission littéraire à travers les siècles.”—Gaston Paris, Cosmopolis, Sept., 1898.
Three-quarters of a century has elapsed since the mediæval epic literature of France first attracted the attention of scholars. This interval has been marked by an uninterrupted succession of texts discovered and edited. The value of these texts to the student of language is great; their value to the historian of politics and society is considerable; but their literary bearing has not been sufficiently emphasized. To this day the general public has but a vague idea of the character and significance of that national epic of which the Chanson de Roland is the highest expression and which Léon Gautier strove so bravely to render popular. The mediæval literature of France has not yet completely recovered from the reputation of vulgarity given to it by the Renaissance.
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1906
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