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Friday, October 10, 2014

Forgotten Friday: The Lais of Marie De France

This meme is about books that have been pushed aside while others have gone viral and made into movies. It can be old books, new books, any book that never got its (or enough) time  in the spot light.

Synopsis as taken from Goodreads: This is a prose translation of the lais or poems attributed to Marie de France. Little is known of her but she was probably the Abbess of the abbey at Shaftesbury in the late 12th century, illegitimate daughter of Geoffrey Plantagenet and hence the half-sister of Henry II of England. It was to a king, and probably Henry II, that she dedicated these poems of adventure and love which were retellings of stories which she had heard from Breton minstrels. She is regarded as the most talented French poet of the medieval period.

Some of you might take one look at the description of this book and go, "Medieval poetry? Oh god." But really, you should give this a chance. It's a book full of what I would consider to be fairy tales (Not disney fairy tales, but still great). There is action, magic, romance. My favorite Lais is the one called Lanval. A story about a knight who falls in love with a mysterious woman, and is promised riches and love by her as long as he never tells anyone about her. My second favorite is called Nightingale and is more sad about two lovers that are neighbors but can never be together due to the woman's marriage. I really hope that some of you will look this up. You won't regret it.

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