"Chaste Readers" and Queenly Patrons of the "Confessio Amantis" and "O Livro do Amante."
- Author/Editor
- Torres, Sara V.
- Title
- "Chaste Readers" and Queenly Patrons of the "Confessio Amantis" and "O Livro do Amante."
- Published
- Torres, Sara V. "'Chaste Readers' and Queenly Patrons of the Confessio Amantis and O Livro do Amante." In Tiago Viúla de Faria, ed. Philippa of Lancaster and the Court Culture of Medieval Portugal (Cham, Switz.: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer, 2024), pp. 159-83.
- Review
- Torres sees Philippa of Lancaster, sister to Henry IV and wife of João I of Portugal, as primary agent behind the translation of the "Confessio Amantis" into Portuguese as "O Livro do Amante" (160). Her focus is the CA's "subtle engagement with gendered reading practices and political counsel, a topic that intersects with princely self-regulation (figured prominently as chastity in the 'Confessio') and models of governance." (161). The essay has two sections: "Poetic Lineage and Political Legitimacy in the 'Confessio Amantis'" (165-74), and "Philippa of Lancaster and 'O Livro do Amante'" (175-83). In the first, Torres clarifies what she means by "chastity." Penelope, Lucris, Alceste and Alcione are "models of marital fidelity" (173) that connect family with political integrity--and ultimately with the Amans/Gower character whose bodily impotence only reifies the nature and power of his poetic voice (174). In the second section, she argues that "Gower, figured as a chaste reader and writer in the "Confessio," envisions the poem as a catalyst for good rule" (175). Torres takes as her central text Gomes Eanes de Zurara's narrative of the conquest of Ceuta in 1415 ["Crónica de Tomada de Ceuta por El Rei D. João I") in which, she argues Philippa of Lancaster played a seminal role, and claims that "the Iberian reception history of the 'Confessio Amantis' . . . is preconditioned not only by the English textual content and early reading communities of Gower, which likely included Philippa of Lancaster, but also by the particular configurations of Avis policy" (175). [RFY. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 44.2]
- Date
- 2024
- Gower Subjects
- Confessio Amantis
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