SOURCE: “Aucassin et Nicolette as Parody,” in Studies in Philology, Vol. 63, No. 1, January, 1966, pp. 1-9.

In the following essay, Harden contends that the use of inversion, particularly in terms of character, in Aucassin et Nicolette undermines the traditional plots and characters of the idyllic novel.

It has long been traditional to consider Aucassin et Nicolette as a piece of literature which, although offering some problems as to its actual literary genre, provided, as far as its protagonists were concerned, the purest example imaginable of characters motivated by idyllic love. Nevertheless, in spite of this generally acknowledged view, certain equivocal actions on the part of the youthful couple have always puzzled and morally distressed editors, translators and scholars in general. As a result of this, efforts have frequently been made to make both the principal characters and their behavior more respectable. Translators, both into modern French and into English...