Why read The French Fetish from Chaucer to Shakespeare?

Book cover of The French Fetish from Chaucer to Shakespeare

Book description

What was the impact of the Norman Conquest on the culture of medieval and early modern England? Deanne Williams answers this question by contending that not only French language and literature, but the idea of Frenchness itself, produced England's literary and cultural identity. Examining a variety of English representations of,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The French Fetish from Chaucer to Shakespeare as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Richard Scholar

Author

This is a brilliant essay in literary criticism. It traces English ambivalence towards French language and culture in the centuries that followed the Norman Conquest. It does so by delving into major literary texts—by Chaucer and Shakespeare among others—that explore that ambivalence for what it is: the symptom of a fetish. I like the way Williams writes and I find her inspiring in her desire to remain faithful to the complexity of the texts she studies and their attitudes.

From Richard's list on The best books on just how much English owes French (and why most English speakers are loath to admit it).