“Otherworldly Ethics: Trouthe and the Fairy Mistress in the Lays of Lanval, Graelent, Guingamor and Sir Launfal”
Join us on Monday, November 13 at 3:30 pm in the Coe Room, Memorial Union, as outgoing McGillicuddy Humanities Center Fellow Abigail Roberts presents on her project, “Otherworldly Ethics: Trouthe and the Fairy Mistress in the Lays of Lanval, Graelent, Guingamor and Sir Launfal.”
Though scholars typically agree that fairies of medieval romances typically offer some critique of the human courts in which they intervene, interpretations more often suggest that fairies behave illogically, without reason, as mere plot devices, or focus on themes of material wealth. Roberts will be discussing how a close examination of the verbal contracts that control the narratives in the lays of Lanval, Graelent, Guingamor, and Sir Launfal may instead reveal that the fairies of these stories introduce to their respective poems a unique feminine ethic that critiques the traditional enactment(s) of trouthe valued in the human court. Far from being arbitrary or illogical, the fairy mistresses of these lays establish a subtly didactic undertone to the narratives.
Content Warning: This talk contains brief mention of sexual assault.
This event is free and open to the public. Light snacks will be served.