Tales of True Love

Lais et Fabliaux Marie de France

By: John Harris

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Marie de France is considered by scholars to be the first prominent woman author in our modern Western tradition.

The persona of her “lais” is unashamed and unabashed. She does not blush at the sexual matter of love, nor does she apologize for nor disguise errant behaviors of women. She is keenly aware of the social inequity between men and women, and how the patriarchal society and the brute masculine ethos of the warrior class was savage and abusive of women. And yet it is to the whole matter of heart, tenderness, affection, and sensual pleasure that she is attune and that it is which she wishes to expound. The love stories intermix delight and despair.

For her and perhaps inherently, the matter of love is a feminist theme.