The Lays of Marie de France

(Paperback)

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Edward Gallagher's fluent prose translations of the Lays are accompanied by a lucid introduction that discusses what we know of their author, the period in which she wrote, the lay as a literary genre, taxonomies of the Lays, the theme of love, and the author's narrative technique. Short commentaries discuss themes, symbols and motifs and point to parallels between and among the twelve lays. This volume also includes a map, a glossary of proper names, a glossary of specialized terms, and appendices providing translations of two anonymous Breton laysMelion and Tyoletas well as the original Old French versions of Marie's Prologue, Guigemar, Bisclavret, and Yonec.

Reviews

With admirable sensitivity to the meaning and style of the originals, Edward J. Gallagher has skillfully rendered these charming Old French verse narratives from the late twelfth century into engaging and readable modern English prose. Gallagher includes a detailed commentary on each of the twelve lays, two useful glossaries, and a selection of lays in Old French. Readers will appreciate his substantial and informative introduction to the works of Marie de France and to the illustrious literary and cultural context within which these masterpieces in miniature took shape. --Donald Maddox, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Editions and translations of Marie de France's Lais have appeared at a steady rate since 1885, indeed in every decade since the 1940s. Edward Gallagher's prose translation (which also translates two anonymous lais, Melion and Tyolet) is the latest, a lively, readable version. . . . [T]his book is welcome: it should help introduce yet more students to these fascinating poems in a clear and energetic prose. -- Modern Language Review
Professor Gallagher's translation is a very timely one. It is produced in a handsome paperback and is highly accessible in price and in its level of critical language to undergraduates, graduates, and lay (no pun intended) readers alike. Students of medieval literature, French or European, will find it a congenial text, written in clear English prose, of Marie's twelve Lays , along with two other lays not attributed to Marie. Each Lay is followed by an illuminative commentary. The body of the text is preceded by an excellent Introduction wherein Gallagher provides the chief facts about Marie, her oeuvre, and recent critical scholarship on Marie, without indulging in unneeded pedantry. --Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures

Author Bio

Edward J. Gallagher is Professor of French Studies, Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts.