Women Healers Crossing Gender Role Boundaries in Old French Narrative
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
WOMEN HEALERS CROSSING GENDER ROLE BOUNDARIES IN OLD FRENCH NARRATIVE BY SHAHRZAD ZAHEDI B.A. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SAN DIEGO, 1999 A.M., BROWN UNIVERSITY, 2005 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH STUDIES AT BROWN UNIVERSITY PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND MAY 2009 © Copyright 2009 by Shahrzad Zahedi VITA Shahrzad Zahedi, was born May 14, 1975, in Tehran, Iran. She is the daughter of Farhad Zahedi and Mahrokh Nategh Zahedi. After she received her French Baccalauréat in Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles in 1994, Shahrzad attended the University of California, San Diego and received her B.A. in June 1999. She began the graduate program in French Studies at Brown University in August 1999 where she received her A.M. in 2005. Shahrzad attended L’Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, France from 2001 to 2003 where she received the title of “Ancien Elève de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure.” She taught English conversation as a Teaching Associate at Le Lycée Paul Robert, Les Lilas, France during her stay at l’Ecole Normale Supérieure. She was a Teaching Assistant in the department of French Studies at Brown University and taught all levels of French language. In September 2008, her Ph.D. thesis was approved. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a great pleasure to be able to thank the people who helped me in the process of finishing my doctoral dissertation. This work would not have been possible without the help of my thesis advisor Michel- André Bossy who thoroughly and meticulously read and commented on countless drafts of my dissertation. Before attending several of Michel-André’s seminars and undergraduate courses, I had little knowledge about the French Middle Ages and his lectures and passion for his field of research inspired me to further examine and read about medieval French literature. I am very greatful to have had the chance to work with and be inspired by Michel-André and I am forever thankful for all his help. I also offer my sincerest gratitude to my second reader, Virginia Krause who never seized to encourage me and with whom I spent many hours speaking about my research and my writing style. Finally, I would like to thank my third reader Amy Remensnyder for her patience and for her insightful comments during my oral defense. I was a pleasure to have had her on my committee. I am forever indebted to my closest friends Sharon Larson, Laetitia Iturralde, and Adele Parker for their kindness, their encouragement and coaching. Sharon, Laetitia, and Adele read drafts of my work, helped me be more organized, and, many times, made sure I kept smiling in the moments when I felt most discouraged. I am grateful to Gretchen Schultz, Sanda Golopentia, Lewis Seifert, Pierre Saint-Amand, Réda Bensmaïa for inspiring me and Annie Wiart, Youenn Kervennic and Stéphanie v Ravillon for their help. I would also like to thank the secretaries of the French Studies department at Brown University for their assistance. Lastly, and most importantly, I wish to thank my mother Mahi Zahedi, my brother Sohrab Zahedi, and my father Farhad Zahedi for their love and support. To my mother I dedicate this thesis. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: The Role and Representation of the Female Healing Practitioner in Chrétien de Troyes’ Arthurian Romances ......................................................................................20 Cligès ..........................................................................................................................23 Erec et Enide ..............................................................................................................37 Yvain ...........................................................................................................................43 Women’s Medical Practice in Chrétien’s Romances .................................................51 CHAPTER TWO: Women Healers and Female Characters as Semi-Authoritative Personae in Marie de France’s Lais ............................................................................59 Guigemar ....................................................................................................................62 Lais des Deus Amanz ..................................................................................................74 Eliduc ..........................................................................................................................85 CHAPTER THREE: Parodying Genre and Gender: Nicolette’s Naked Limb and Her Dexterous Hands ...................................................................................................93 The Healing Powers of Nicolette’s “Ganbete” ...........................................................95 Speech and the Healing Beast ..................................................................................104 Nicolette Performs Surgery ......................................................................................109 Nicolette the “Jongleur” ...........................................................................................120 CHAPTER FOUR: The Healer Blurring Gender Role Boundaries in Rutebeuf’s Dit de l’Herberie and in the Anonymous Fabliau La Seineresse ............................128 The Herb Merchant and Long-Eared Trotula ...........................................................128 Le ou La “Seineresse”? ............................................................................................142 CHAPTER FIVE: The Healer Intervenes in the Lady’s Destiny in Le Roman de la Violette .........................................................................................................................153 vii Gondrée Deconstructs the Eurïant Type ...................................................................154 Aiglente’s Nurse .......................................................................................................168 Healers as Mediators: Marote and Aigline ...............................................................171 CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................180 viii INTRODUCTION “Et si les “marchandises” refusaient d’aller au “marché”? Entretenant entre elles un “autre” commerce? – Luce Irigaray1 Studying medieval medical practice proves a difficult task because of the lack of documentation and because medicine was practiced and studied in a different manner. Examining women’s role in the medical milieu proves even more difficult. Historians of medicine observe that medieval annals do not represent the correct number of women practicing healing since most female practitioners of medicine lacked a professional title or affiliation. The female healing practitioner of Old French literature helps shed light on women’s representation and their function within the genres of romance, dit, lai, and fabliau. The available data on women’s practice of healing and medicine shows a gradual evolution in the representation of these same practitioners. Their image slowly changes and they evolve from healer to witch, from helper-savior-curer to malignant murderer and poisoner. In 1943 Muriel Hughes wrote that within the domestic realm most women were familiar with the medicinal properties of herbs and basic empirical healing practices. Caring and curing were thus considered feminine attributes at the time and they helped define women’s nature. Yet, those healing practitioners who financially profited from their expertise and/or whose femininity was solely defined by their healing practice posed enough of a threat to be banned from medical universities, especially in France. The 1 Luce Irigaray, “Des marchandises entre elles,” Ce sexe qui n’en est pas un (Paris :Minuit, 1977) 187-94. 1 2 medieval female medical and healing practitioner embodies this paradox, which then invites us to question how women’s gender roles are constructed. Her activities helped define women, yet as soon as her skills provided her an unexpected amount of independence and authority she posed a threat to discourses that served to subordinate women to men. In Old French literature, women healers appear considerably often. Peggy McCracken shows that these female characters are hardly provided a professional title or affiliation while male medical practitioners are often named “mire.”2 Conducting a comparative study of women healers’ roles in literature and history may not seem useful. Literature does not directly correlate with history especially when it comes to medieval romance; nevertheless, meeting points between literature and history can occur when we examine literary discourses on women and femininity. Contemporary religious and philosophical treatises have influenced Old French fictional literature. Because the healing practitioner of medieval literature often plays a minor role, modern scholars have tended to neglect her and to place greater emphasis on the works’ female heroine—the lady—and her relationship with the male characters. Women who play the role of healer generate a different perspective for the study of gender construction in medieval fictional works. In troubadour lyric poetry and in Old French fiction, the lady, la domna, and l’amie contrasts with the male lover who is often the active subject of romance and 2 McCracken first observes that in literature male healing practitioners