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Rewilding with the cri in Medieval French texts: Yvain and Mélusine

Lewis, Liam 2023. Rewilding with the cri in Medieval French texts: Yvain and Mélusine. French Studies 77 (2) , pp. 167-182. 10.1093/fs/knac272

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Abstract

Focusing on two medieval narratives about identity transformation, Yvain and Mélusine, this article explores areas of dialogue between medieval literary studies and current perspectives on sound and rewilding the environment. Sound studies have in recent times enabled a more expansive philosophical reflection on the intersections between language, ecology, and identity. This article uses a friction between philosophical perspectives on the French cri and ecological ‘acoustemology’ to illustrate such reflection. If, as contemporary ecologists suggest, rewilding is a process underscored by careful human management in order to restore landscapes back to a state of wilderness, the same can be said of moments of narrative transformation in medieval texts that are revealed through sound. How might such interpretations of texts offer ways of linking textual modes of rewilding to the transformation of human and nonhuman subjects? To conclude, the article suggests how listening to medieval texts, to their narrative pivots and the changes in the sounds they depict, modifies the way nonhuman identity is discussed in connection with medieval (and non-medieval) literature.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISSN: 1468-2931
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 16 January 2025
Date of Acceptance: 21 November 2021
Last Modified: 17 Jan 2025 16:02
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/175245

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