SOURCE: "Desire and Interpretation: Marie de France's 'Chievrefoil'," in Yale French Studies, No. 58, 1979, pp. 182-89.

In the following essay, Fitz uses deconstructionist theory to reveal the "truth" in the lai "Chievrefoil."

The Lais of Marie de France are rimed narratives that tell how, why, where and by whom apparently obscure lyric poems, also called lais, were composed. In these narratives the personages themselves tell, sometimes write, read and in two instances ("Chaitivel" and "Chievrefoil") make lays of their own adventures. (In the ten other texts these lays are said to have been made by anonymous, ancient Bretons.) In other words, these narratives show personages whose actions are protoliterary in that they constitute the object of the exegetical activity Marie performs.

Marie's intention is to tell the truth of these lays, as declared for example in the initial verses of "Chievrefoil":

 Asez me plest e bien le voil,
Del...