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Spirit and Letter: Speech Acts in Selected Medieval Texts

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Medieval Considerations of Incest, Marriage, and Penance

Part of the book series: The New Middle Ages ((TNMA))

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Abstract

Rash boons, deceptive obedience, and forged missives produce a tension between the letter of the text and the spirit of the text. Beginning with J.L. Austinʼs theory of speech acts, this chapter considers the value and power of womenʼs speech in contrast to the authoritative words of men who nonetheless sometimes find themselves ensnared in linguistic traps set for them by the weaker sex. Womenʼs silence sometimes allows her to eventually have the last word.

All citations and translations of La Manekine are taken from Philippe de Rémi, Le Roman de la Manekine, ed. and trans. by Barbara Sargent-Baur (Amsterdam & Atlanta: Rodopi, 1999).

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  1. The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA

    Linda Marie Rouillard

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  1. Linda Marie Rouillard
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Correspondence to Linda Marie Rouillard .

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Rouillard, L.M. (2020). Spirit and Letter: Speech Acts in Selected Medieval Texts. In: Medieval Considerations of Incest, Marriage, and Penance. The New Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35602-6_7

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