The Lady and the Unicorn and the Handsome Knight.
Phoebus| N° d'inventaire | 23521 |
| Format | 14 x 20 |
| Détails | 288 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2021 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782752912275 |
Written to order around 1350 on the occasion of a promise of marriage, this chivalric romance intended for a princess is an ambitious witness to the literature of the late Middle Ages.
Nourished by a courtly ideal endangered by war, political rivalries, and epidemics, the book does not simply tell a love story modeled on so many others: the poetry, music, dance, and quality of the images celebrate a complete culture of the senses, well before the very famous cycle of six tapestries of The Lady and the Unicorn, for which it undoubtedly served as inspiration. It advances, around the dream figure of the unicorn, now feminine, a renewed image of femininity, in narrative, poetry, and images. For a young woman, this boxed book presented itself as much as a manual of ethical and erotic conduct as a promise of secret entertainment, to brighten the hours spent in rooms with multicolored hangings - not far from rumors, and momentarily sheltered from the catastrophes of the world. Alone, or with a perfect lover, and for better against worse.
Fantasy lovers will find all the ingredients that delight the imagination of many readers today.
Written to order around 1350 on the occasion of a promise of marriage, this chivalric romance intended for a princess is an ambitious witness to the literature of the late Middle Ages.
Nourished by a courtly ideal endangered by war, political rivalries, and epidemics, the book does not simply tell a love story modeled on so many others: the poetry, music, dance, and quality of the images celebrate a complete culture of the senses, well before the very famous cycle of six tapestries of The Lady and the Unicorn, for which it undoubtedly served as inspiration. It advances, around the dream figure of the unicorn, now feminine, a renewed image of femininity, in narrative, poetry, and images. For a young woman, this boxed book presented itself as much as a manual of ethical and erotic conduct as a promise of secret entertainment, to brighten the hours spent in rooms with multicolored hangings - not far from rumors, and momentarily sheltered from the catastrophes of the world. Alone, or with a perfect lover, and for better against worse.
Fantasy lovers will find all the ingredients that delight the imagination of many readers today.