The Lai, the Fae, and Spaces to Play: The Legacy of Medieval Fantasy and Subversions of Gender in the Lais of Marie de France and Le Duché de Bicolline

Abstract

This thesis will examine the legacy and cultural work of the supernatural fantasy tradition in queering heteronormative society and contemporary gender ideals in both the medieval period and modernity. In her introduction to the 2017 publication The Middle Ages in the Modern World from Oxford University Press, Bettina Bildhauer writes, “the subjects of enquiry pursued by medievalism are of pressing concern in the twenty-first century, not only, but also [sic] to professional historians of the Middle Ages” (2). This project engages with the rising trend of medievalism in twenty-first century academia and trace the literary tradition of the Middle Ages in modern forms of performative storytelling. My research will build upon the work of Tison Pugh and Carolyn Dinshaw in exploring the queerness and gender subversions inherent in medieval literature, and the use of this literary tradition in the evolution of “queer worldmaking” in a contemporary context (Dinshaw MAIMW 304). I specifically examine the queering power of the fae and fantasy in medieval literature and fantasy role-playing games. This thesis grapples with queer spaces and creatures in two distinct storytelling modes: first, the Lais of Marie de France, originating in 12th century England; and second, the live-action role-playing game Le Duché de Bicolline. I will be specifically analyzing my experiences at the week-long summer event Le Grande Bataille, from 2017 to 2019. For the purposes of my study, the lais will represent the fae in medieval popular culture, while Bicolline will embody the pseudo-literary representation of the fae in modern consciousness. I analyze these two seemingly different mediums of storytelling in tandem to reveal their foundations in a shared tradition of supernatural fantasy and oral performance. I posit here that the use of fantasy, particularly through the fae, in both medieval lais and modern modes of storytelling like live action role play (often abbreviated as larp) opens up queer space, which allows societal expectations of gender and the status quo to be played with, challenged, and subverted. These queer spaces can be opened using the fae and Otherworldly elements that speak to audiences, both modern and medieval, in ages of religion, skepticism, superstition, and science.