Background
Blacker, Jean was born on February 11, 1952 in Sacramento, California, United States. Daughter of Nathan and Toby (Freeman) Blacker.
( The twelfth century witnessed the sudden appearance and...)
The twelfth century witnessed the sudden appearance and virtual disappearance of an important literary genre—the Old French verse chronicle. These poetic histories of the British kings, which today are treated as fiction, were written contemporaneously with Latin prose narratives, which are regarded as historical accounts. In this pathfinding study, however, Jean Blacker asserts that twelfth-century authors and readers viewed both genres as factual history. Blacker examines four Old French verse chronicles—Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis (c. 1135), Wace's Roman de Brut (c. 1155) and Roman de Rou (c. 1160–1174), and Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des Ducs de Normandie (c. 1174–1180) and four Latin narratives—William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum (c. 1118–1143) and Historia Novella (c. 1140–1143), Orderic Vitalis's Historia Ecclesiastica (c. 1118–1140), and Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1138). She compares their similarity in three areas—the authors' stated intentions, their methods of characterization and narrative development, and the possible influences of patronage and audience expectation on the presentation of characters and events. This exploration reveals remarkable similarity among the texts, including their idealization of historical and even legendary figures, such as King Arthur. It opens fruitful lines of inquiry into the role these writers played in the creation of the Anglo-Norman regnum and suggests that the Old French verse chronicles filled political, psychic, and aesthetic needs unaddressed by Latin historical writing of the period.
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Blacker, Jean was born on February 11, 1952 in Sacramento, California, United States. Daughter of Nathan and Toby (Freeman) Blacker.
Bachelor in French, University of California at Los Angeles, 1973; Master of Arts in Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley, 1976; Doctor of Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley, 1984.
Lecturer comparative studies in humanities, Ohio State University, Columbus, 1982-1984; lecturer in French, Ohio State University, Columbus, 1984-1985; adjunct assistant professor French, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio., 1985-1987; visiting assistant professor French, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio., 1987-1990; assistant professor, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio., 1990-1993; associate professor, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio., since 1993.
( The twelfth century witnessed the sudden appearance and...)
( The twelfth century witnessed the sudden appearance and...)
Member International Arthurian Society (James Randall Leader prize North America branch 1997), International Courtly Literature Society (bibliographer since 1986), Anglo-NormanText Society, Medieval Academy American, Modern Language Association (Executive Committee Arthurian discussion group 1994-1998), American Association Teachers French. F C.
Married Randall Dewey Knight, September 14, 1975 (divorced 1986). Married John Harvey Finefrock, August 20, 1987. 1 child, Edwina Esther.