Abstract
This article shows how poems of Guilhem de Peitieu and Marcabru can be read as a testimony to the early development of a concept of harmful literature. In his Ab la dolchor del temps novel (BdT 183.1) Guilhem acknowledges the authority of singing birds and seeks to fulfill of his desire, whereas the opposite authority of "strange latin" (estranh lati) spoken by defilers and representing bounds of the society is rejected.
Marcabru reacts against this act with his poem Dirai vos e mon latin (BdT 293.17) where he shows its consequences: univesal satisfaction of sexual appetite will populate the world with illegitimate children and ruin the aristocratic society. Thus the literature produced by poets like Guilhem is labeled harmful.
Since this emblematical poetic exchange courtly authors like Chrétien de Troyes seek to avoid bonds to reality and history, building foundation for yet another kind of uncanonical literature: the escapist pulp.