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Part of the book: The Theme of Love in the 'Romans d'Antiquité'

Rosemarie Jones

MHRA Texts and Dissertations 5

Modern Humanities Research Association

MedievalFrenchPoetryopen

Abstract.  In the Roman de Troie Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses the episode of Jason and Medea to set the scene; both militarily, as it foreshadows the subsequent destruction of Troy, and psychologically, as it forms the first of the four love-stories in this work. The question of Benoit's sources for this episode has not, however, been considered in detail. Constans has commented: 'Benoît, il est vrai, a pu trouver quelques détails dans Ovide, Métam., VIl. init. et Her., XII, mais les différences et les particularités sont si nombreuses, tout en conservant un caractère antique, qu'il vaut mieux admettre soit un récit romanesque de 'expédition des Argonautes, comme le veut Koerting, soit, plus simplement, un Darès développé ayant utilisé une oeuvre de ce genre', and Dr Lumiansky suggests that Benoit was indebted to a source, probably Ovid, for his treatment of this episode, but he does not specify further.

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