In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, new ways of storytelling and inventing fictions appeared in the French-speaking areas of Europe. This new art still influences our global culture of fiction. Virginie Greene explores the relationship between fiction and the development of neo-Aristotelian logic during this period through a close examination of seminal literary and philosophical texts by major medieval authors, such as Anselm of Canterbury, Abelard, and Chretien de Troyes. This study of Old French logical fictions encourages a broader theoretical reflection about fiction as a universal human trait and a defining element of the history of Western philosophy and literature. Additional close readings of classical Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle, and modern analytic philosophy including the work of Bertrand Russell and Rudolf Carnap, demonstrate peculiar traits of Western rationalism and expose its ambivalent relationship to fiction.

This book examines the ways in which traditions of philosophy and logic are reflected in major works of medieval literature.

About the Author
Virginie Greene is Professor of French in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University, Massachusetts. She is author of Cent vues de John Harvard (2011), co-author of Thinking Through Chretien de Troyes (2011), translator of Le debat sur le Roman de la Rose (2006), and editor of The Medieval Author in French Medieval Literature (2006).


Book Information
ISBN 9781107660175
Author Virginie Greene
Format Paperback
Page Count 308
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 450g
Dimensions(mm) 230mm * 152mm * 16mm