In this study geared to general readers, university students of literature, and those who teach it, we focus on the interpretive game of literary debate as presented through two of the earliest debates over a difficult literary text.
Both debates concern more than just the literary text in question. Taken separately or seen together as an ongoing controversy, they broach a range of social issues: the question of gender; the interplay of power and hierarchy in societal relationships such as marriage, the court, and the courtroom.
A web of societal meaning is woven into each of these quarrels; each thread untangled is a point of the debate.
Scholars of medieval literature will find this work an interesting read. Le Roman de la Rose is a particularly well-known medieval work and it is fascinating to look at the different views people had about it.
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