
The Familiar Enemy
Chaucer, Language, and Nation in the Hundred Years War
Ardis Butterfield(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 7. March 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
480 pages
978-0-19-965770-4 (ISBN)
Description
The Familiar Enemy re-examines the linguistic, literary, and cultural identities of England and France within the context of the Hundred Years War. During this war, two profoundly intertwined peoples developed complex strategies for expressing their aggressively intimate relationship. This special connection between the English and the French has endured into the modern period as a model for Western nationhood. Ardis Butterfield reassesses the concept of 'nation' in this period through a wide-ranging discussion of writing produced in war, truce, or exile from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, concluding with reflections on the retrospective views of this conflict created by the trials of Jeanne d'Arc and by Shakespeare's Henry V. She considers authors writing in French, 'Anglo-Norman', English, and the comic tradition of Anglo-French 'jargon', including Machaut, Deschamps, Froissart, Chaucer, Gower, Charles d'Orleans, as well as many lesser-known or anonymous works. Traditionally Chaucer has been seen as a quintessentially English author. This book argues that he needs to be resituated within the deeply francophone context, not only of England but the wider multilingual cultural geography of medieval Europe. It thus suggests that a modern understanding of what 'English' might have meant in the fourteenth century cannot be separated from 'French', and that this has far-reaching implications both for our understanding of English and the English, and of French and the French.
Reviews / Votes
This will be recognized as one of the most important books in Middle English and Chaucer Studies of the last thirty years ... it offers illuminating long perspectives on contemporary debates on where and when nationhood begins and ends, and on how linguistic practices mesh with territorial and political structuresa brilliant and timely book. * David Wallace, Queen Mary Medieval Studies * This is a huge, learned and highly intelligent book ... The Familiar Enemy is destined to crucially re-shape the debate on the French angle of English literary history and to move that debate to the centre of Middle English studies. It will remain on reading lists for decades to come. * Andrew James Johnstone, Anglia *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Students and scholars of Medieval French and English Literature, especially Chaucer, historical linguistics and historians of the Hundred Years War
Illustrations
10 black and white halftones, 3 maps
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
694 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-965770-4 (9780199657704)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
12/2009
Oxford University Press
€129.99
Shipment within 15-20 days

E-Book
12/2009
OUP eBook
€22.99
Available for download
Person
Ardis Butterfield has published widely on English and French medieval literature and music. Her books include Poetry and Music in Medieval France from Jean Renart to Guillaume de Machaut (Cambridge, 2002), an edited collection of essays, Chaucer and the City (Cambridge, 2006). She has recently been awarded a Major Leverhulme Research Fellowship (2008-2011) to work on 'The Origins of English Song'. She has given several talks and interviews on medieval literature and music for Radio 3 and Radio 4.
Content
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS; BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE; LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS; PREFACE; I NATION AND LANGUAGE; II EXCHANGING TERMS: WAR AND PEACE; III VERNACULAR SUBJECTS; CONCLUSION; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX