Educare all’amore. La modellizzazione letteraria delle identità di genere nel Roman d’Eledus et Serene

Giulia Murgia

2021-01-01

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Abstract

The contribution focuses on Eledus et Serene, a novel known at least since the second half of the 13th century, but which reached us in a late 14th-century version in verse, written in French starting from a Provençal model. The text raises the theme of male and female gender identities captured at the moment of their formation: in fact, it gives ample space to education, especially affective and sentimental, which is imparted to the protagonists, focusing on the pedagogical strategies and behavioral codes that are proposed by those adults who direct educational processes. Particularly interesting is the lesson given by the lady Sebile (vv. 2400-2713): this character with the emblematic name lavishes the young Serene with a rich series of love lessons, according to a teaching plan that includes a historical overview of the evolution of human passions and a large collection of paradigmatic cases offered by the lives of excellent lovers.