The Medieval Moi Multiple

This chapter by Douglas Kelly on the medieval moi examines the relation between personification of named entities and narrative in several representative medieval works by authors including Chrétien de Troyes, Raoul de Houdenc, Huon de Mery, Guillaume de Lorris, François Villon, Jean Froissart, Guillaume de Machaut, and Christine de Pizan. This relation reveals ways in which human diversity emerges from interiorizing the personifications’ names, including the names’ semantic range, and narrative. This moi multiple reveals self-knowledge. In the late Middle Ages personification gives way to exemplification.