The Roman de la Rose and Its Sources

FAIN: FB-12292-74

Donald W. Rowe
University of Wisconsin, Madison (Madison, WI 53715-1218)

To study the Roman de la Rose, primarily Jean de Meun's portion, in relation to its sources. Chaucer's art cannot be adequately understood until we understand the complexities and ironies of the Roman, a poem Chaucer tells us he translated and one scholars agree influenced the whole range of his poetry. Given the encyclopedia character of Jean's continuation of Guillaume's fragment, a study of the Roman and its sources constitutes a survey in depth of the thought and art of the 12th and 13th centuries, one which leads directly to historically important Latin lierature that influenced both Jean and Chaucer.