www.medievalbookshop.co.uk
Bargain books on the Middle Ages and all related subjects
Contact by email or post & phone
W. S. Merwin.
The Mays of Ventadorn.
Washington D.C.: National Geographic, 2002.
Literary Travel series.
ISBN 0792265386;
ISBN-13: 9780792265382.
Hardback, perfect bound.
143x210x18mm.
Unnumbered prelims inc. 1 monochrome map, 163pp.
English.
Dustjacket is slightly grubby, otherwise generally very good (unused) condition.
This item £6.50
[Publisher's priceUS$20.00/Can$31.00/£12.99]
361g.W. S. Merwin, one of the great contemporary English-language poets, turns to prose here in a brilliantly evocative re-creation of a distant past - as well an exquisite rendering of his own romance with an abandoned farmhouse in the magical countryside of Southwest France. The Mays of Ventadorn: Tales from Southwest France illuminates the origins of the famous 12th-century Provencal troubadours, beginning with the great Bernart de Ventadorn whose work Merwin first encountered as a young translator of the archaic language known as Old Occitan. The timeless beauty of the troubadours' pastoral songs and narrative poems has enabled them to survive for 900 years, far outlasting the language from which they sprang.
As he reveals the lyrical pleasures in Southwest France's medieval courts, Merwin also acquaints readers with the ruins of the chateau of Ventadorn, Bernart's home, as well as the elegantly careworn farmhouse that the poet himself has owned for decades. Merwin brings a sense of historical continuity to his narrative as he writes of how the warm enchantments that distinguish the farmhouse, the local patois, and the area's rural traditions are in many respects the direct progeny of the troubadours' storied culture and language of old.
Related pages: | troubadours | travelogues |
See the "book descriptions" page for explanations of the criteria used in this listing.
Return to used books index page
Use these scrollbars to navigate the attic...
You need javascript switched on for these scrollbars to work. If they don't, there's a full set of links at the bottom of this page.
Primary sources anthologies | anononymous | facsimile | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Secondary sources journals & partworks | author unknown | exhibition guides & ephemera | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | Mc | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Reference books Reference index | general reference | bibliographies | biographical dictionaries | catalogues: auctions | catalogues: exhibitions | catalogues: museums & collections | chronology & dating | genealogy & heraldry | guides & gazetteers | lexical: concordances, dictionaries, glossaries | maps & atlases | medievalism | name & place-name studies | pass notes & study guides | numismatics
Medievalism main page | general non-fiction | reference books | biography & autobiography | travelogues | arcana | folklore | arts and crafts | kid's books | fiction | poetry | drama | humour
Other stuff browse by subject | browse by publisher | browse by series | gift books | kids' stuff | incomplete sets | shop returns | signed copies | unused bargains | useful non-medieval | new books (with Amazon links)
Site search
(Fluid Dynamics)
medievalbookshop
Other frequently asked questions
Books
How to find what you're looking for
How the book descriptions work
Information pages
The small print