Much work has already been done on the conventions and formulae of Old French literature, particularly epic literature, and on parody in the French Middle Ages. This book links these approaches, widens the concept of 'formula', and aims to show that certain authors, far from being enslaved by the conventions within which they worked, were conscious of them and could master them with sufficient independence to exploit them for calculated literary effect, and in particular for parody. It studies the fabliaux, Aucassin et Nicolette and Le Pèlerinage de Charlemagne, texts in which...
Much work has already been done on the conventions and formulae of Old French literature, particularly epic literature, and on parody in the French Mi...