Silence (book)
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Le Roman de Silence is a 13th-century post-Arthurian romance written in Old French by an anonymous author about a protagonist named "Silence" and includes allegorical characters. Master Heldris, is in fact, not the author, but the narrator of the story.
Discovery
The text was rediscovered in 1911 as part of an anthology in the dusty crates of Wollaton Hall in Nottingham in a crate marked "unimportant documents". The crate also contained a letter written by Henry VIII.[1]
Narrative as criticism
It tells the story of "Silence", the only daughter of a noble family who is raised as a boy because the King of England denies women the right to inherit property. Nature and Nurture appear as two allegorical characters fighting for the mind and body of Silence. Nurture urges Silence to continue life as a man, while Nature tells her to pursue her true identity as a woman. Nature seems to "win" in the end, but despite the conservative ending of the romance, the poem – in which a woman becomes a spectacularly successful social man – invites critical approaches that challenge rather than posit a monolithic or unproblematic model for patriarchy. In this vein the poem is an important subject for critical work in medieval and gender studies alike.[2]
Location
The text is now part of the Wollaton Library Collection, held by the Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham[3]
References
- ↑ Historical Manuscript Commission , Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton Preserved at Wollaton Hall , Nottinghamshire, compiled by W. H. Stevenson (London:, 1911), pp. 221-36.
- ↑ Jane Tolmie, “Silence in the Sewing Chamber: Le Roman de Silence” French Studies, Vol. 63, No. 1 January 2009, pp. 14-26
- ↑ Items from the Wollaton Library Collection - The University of Nottingham accessed 21 April 2010