SOURCE: "Thematic Irony in Marie France's 'Guigemar'," in French Forum, Vol. 13, No. 1, January, 1988, pp. 5-16.

In the following essay, Brumlik shows how "Guigemar" is different from conventional love lais.

The opening lines of Marie's "Guigemar" expand upon the hero's place in a serious "this-worldly" world of feudal and family solidarity and dependence (27-56). The links in the chain of dependence begin at the top with King Hoilas and move down, first to Oridial, a good and trusted knight and lord of Liun, and then to his wife and children, a son and a daughter, Guigemar and Noguent.

In a period intermittently troubled by wars in Brittany, Guigemar is cherished at home until he leaves to serve his king and be dubbed by him. Then he leaves the court to establish a reputation for himself in Flanders, where, Marie tells us, there is always a war going on (52). In...