Rüdiger Schnell

Epistolae duorum amantium: Parodien - auf ein beruhmtes Liebespaar? Rüdiger Schnell

For 20 years medievalists have been debating whether these love letters have been written by Abelard and Heloise. The present study comes to a surprising result. The famous lovers are ridiculed in and by these letters. On the one hand the male writer appears to be a show-off, a macho, while on the other hand he emerges as a 'crybaby' who humiliates himself to secure the object of his desire. The female writer is stylized as the epitome of ideal love, but above all, she hopes for sexual pleasure. However, her desire is cleverly concealed by the borrowing from religious vocabulary in the letters.