{"id":3891,"date":"2015-03-31T02:23:33","date_gmt":"2015-03-31T02:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?page_id=3891"},"modified":"2015-04-03T01:13:24","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T01:13:24","slug":"sconduto-2008-congress","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/abstracts\/sconduto-2008-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Sconduto (2008 Congress)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leslie A. Sconduto
\n(Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois)
\n“The Werewolf’s Gaping Mouth:\u00a0\u00a0The Motif of the goule baee<\/em> in Guillaume de Palerne<\/em>“<\/h3>\n

Abstract of Paper Presented at the 43rd International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, 2008)
\nSession on “Bark at the Rune:\u00a0\u00a0Transforming the Medieval Werewolf”<\/strong>
\nSponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
\nOrganized by Jeff Massey<\/p>\n

2008 Congress<\/a><\/p>\n

Guillaume de Palerne<\/em> is a remarkable roman d\u2019aventure<\/em> that tells the story of a young prince of Sicily who is kidnapped by a werewolf at the age of four.\u00a0\u00a0Woven into the story of the eponymous hero is the parallel story of Alphonse, the Spanish prince who was transformed into a werewolf by his stepmother when he was still a toddler.\u00a0\u00a0This romance not only participates in the same tradition as Bisclavret<\/em>, Melion<\/em>, and Arthur and Gorlagon<\/em>, but also provides the fullest treatment of the Werewolf\u2019s Tale<\/em> and represents an important reworking of its traditional motifs.\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, with Alphonse we see that the werewolf has undergone a total metamorphosis; no vestige remains of the bloodthirsty beast.\u00a0\u00a0One of the motifs contributing to his portrayal, one that is unique to Guillaume de Palerne<\/em>, is the motif of his goule baee<\/em>, his gaping mouth.<\/p>\n

Through close readings, I demonstrate how the poet uses this motif to draw attention to the romance\u2019s theme of illusory appearance, serve a narrative function by announcing that the werewolf is about to attack, develop the image of the werewolf as a knight while at the same time insisting on his bestiality, and underscore Alphonse\u2019s limitations:\u00a0\u00a0although his mouth is open, he cannot speak.\u00a0\u00a0Finally, I conclude that the werewolf\u2019s empty gaping mouth signifies the absence of cannibalized flesh.\u00a0\u00a0According to Geraldine Heng, the giant in Geoffrey of Monmouth\u2019s Historia<\/em> allows cannibalism to be displaced into romance where it can be safely discussed.\u00a0\u00a0The werewolf in Guillaume de Palerne<\/em> goes one step further and accomplishes something that Geoffrey\u2019s giant does not; it entirely erases the notion of cannibalism and redeems the image of the Christian knight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leslie A. Sconduto (Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois) “The Werewolf’s Gaping Mouth:\u00a0\u00a0The Motif of the goule baee in Guillaume de Palerne“ Abstract of Paper Presented at the 43rd International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, 2008) Session on “Bark at the Rune:\u00a0\u00a0Transforming the Medieval Werewolf” Sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence Organized by Jeff Massey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":1023,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3891"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3893,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3891\/revisions\/3893"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}