French Literature Reviews - 2026

Al. Velissariou, Dramatic Aspects and the Writing of Orality in the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles
Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Alexandra Velissariou, Dramatic Aspects and the Writing of Orality in the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles

Paris: Honoré Champion, "Bibliothèque du XVe siècle" series, 2012

EAN 9782745323804.

640 pp.

Price: 135 EUR

Publisher's description:

This book examines the anonymous collection of the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles, written around 1462 at the Court of Burgundy. The author, who drew his stories from the European literary heritage of his time, deploys a new narrative technique aimed at making his stories worth telling. The work is situated within a specific literary and cultural context, where writing and silent reading competed with the oral dissemination of texts. Heavily influenced by this oral dimension, the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles offer, through both their text and the accompanying images in the Glasgow manuscript and early printed editions, a particularly vivid glimpse into the cultural atmosphere of their time. The narrative is dramatized, as evidenced by numerous techniques that theatricalize situations and characters. Similarly, certain novellas can be linked to the secular theater of the late Middle Ages.

Alexandra Velissariou holds a PhD in medieval French literature from the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne.

Late medieval narrative often occupies a complex space between written transmission and performance, reflecting a cultural environment where texts circulated through both silent reading and spoken recitation. The fifteenth century witnessed significant developments in vernacular storytelling across European courts, particularly within circles influenced by dramatic traditions and secular performance culture. Studies in this field frequently examine how narrative texts appropriate techniques from contemporary theater, including dialogue structures, character staging, and situational comedy, to engage their audiences in varied ways.

Readers interested in medieval French literature and fifteenth-century narrative traditions may find this study relevant. The book examines the anonymous collection of the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles, written around 1462 at the Court of Burgundy, and discusses the work within its specific literary and cultural context where writing and silent reading competed with oral dissemination.