Speaker: Academia.edu

Abstract: »From the 16th century onwards, the image of ancient satyrs as lustful animalized beings dominates literature and arts. It appears through scenes of satyrs chasing nymphs or surprising them in their sleep and raping them. Although this image has existed since Antiquity, it coexists with other ancient representations, renewed in the French literature of 14-15^thcenturies. Satyrs were also depicted as minor deities of nature, embodying concepts such as fertility and the renewal of nature: as part of Bacchus’s procession; as subjects of Diana, goddess of virginity; and in connection with artistic creation (Apollo; Pan). This paper will examine this dual image: on the one hand, a monstrous being who embodies unbridled sexuality and violence against women; on the other, a force of nature, embodying the power of life and sometimes creation. It will be based on adaptations of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the Livre des échecs amoureux moralisés (1400), the Recueil Robertet (1515) and Marguerite de Navarre's Histoire des satyres et nymphes de Dyane (1540). The goal is to analyze the manner in which these two disparate representations are interrelated or not, and to ascertain whether they contain any correlation between the Nature’s fecundity and creation, and sexual violence against women.« (Source: Online Program)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of France / France in the Middle Ages, France in the early modern period | Literature: French literature / Marguerite de Navarre | Myth: Greek mythology / Nymph, Satyr | Sex and the law: Rape / History of rape