Claustration and opening in the Voir Dit by Guillaume de Machaut

The questions of enclosure and confinement are crucial and closely linked to one another in the Voir Dit by Guillaume de Machaut. The text, in which roundels proliferate and the Wheel of Fortune dictates the narrative, also includes a number of scenes in which confinement is thematized: the enclosure of objects, such as the portrait of Toute Belle, the confinement of the lovers in their rooms or in the inn at the Foire du Lendit, the threat of seizure by the Great Companies, finally diverted by means of the allegory. The Voir Dit ultimately metaphorizes the potential of literature to enclose the ultimate secret of the lovers. © 2022 De Boeck Superieur. All rights reserved.