French 320 - WOMEN DEFAMED, WOMEN DEFENDED

What genres did women practice in the Middle Ages and in what way did they transform those genres for their own purposes?  What access did women have to education and to the works of other writers, male and female? To what extent did women writers question the traditional gender roles of their society? How did they represent female characters in their works and what do their statements about authorship reveal about their understanding of themselves as writing women? What do we make of anonymous works written in the feminine voice? Readings will include the love letters of Héloïse, the lais and fables of Marie de France, the songs of the trobairitz and women trouvères, and the writings of Christine de Pizan.