The gardener and I went to a Halloween party over the weekend. Our costumes were meant to be Marie de France and her Unknown Lover. Unknown because nobody even knows Marie’s identity, just that she was the first female poet of France, living in the 12th century.
Here she is in an illuminated manuscript:
Among other texts, Marie wrote one of the early Arthurian tales about Guinevere, Lancelot, and Arthur.
Marie wrote about these characters in the literary form the Breton lai. According to Wikipedia:
A Breton lai, also known as a narrative lay or simply a lay, is a form of medieval French and English romance literature. Lais are short (typically 600–1000 lines), rhymed tales of love and chivalry, [and focused on the Arthurian tales].
In other words, lais are poems.
Here are the gardener and I in costume:
Third time in my life I remember being the subject of a caricature.
The first was this one that is on the cover of Scrap. My father’s co-worker made this for him when I was born. Pretty sure I look like Tweety Bird here.
The second time someone drew a caricature of me was at Expo 67 in Montreal. The artist drew me as a nerd girl reading a book. Because what else?
What’s the most fun costume you have ever worn?
For many years I wore a nun’s outfit. People treated me much nicer!
Hahaha. There was a nun at the party. She made me nervous, like a real nun ;).