A bilingual volume that reveals an intriguing world of courtly love
and satire in medieval Portugal and Spain The rich tradition of
troubadour poetry in western Iberia had all but vanished from
history until the discovery of several ancient cancioneiros, or
songbooks, in the nineteenth century. These compendiums revealed
close to 1,700 songs, or cantigas, composed by around 150
troubadours from Galicia, Portugal, and Castile in the thirteenth
and early fourteenth centuries. In Cantigas, award-winning
translator Richard Zenith presents a delightful selection of 124 of
these poems in English versions that preserve the musical quality
of the originals, which are featured on facing pages. By turns
romantic, spiritual, ironic, misogynist, and feminist, these lyrics
paint a vibrant picture of their time and place, surprising us with
attitudes and behaviors that are both alien and familiar. The book
includes the three major kinds of cantigas. While cantigas de amor
(love poems in the voice of men) were largely inspired by the
troubadour poetry of southern France, cantigas de amigo (love poems
voiced by women) derived from a unique native oral tradition in
which the narrator pines after her beloved, sings his praises, or
mocks him. In turn, cantigas de escarnio are satiric, and sometimes
outrageously obscene, lyrics whose targets include aristocrats,
corrupt clergy, promiscuous women, and homosexuals. Complete with
an illuminating introduction on the history of the cantigas, their
poetic characteristics, and the men who composed and performed
them, this engaging volume is filled with exuberant and unexpected
poems.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
