The Chanson de Geste and Memory
Paula Elizabeth Leverage
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Department of the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto
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This dissertation, as many before it, has accrued significant debts in its writing, which are poorly settled by a few words of acknowledgement. However, they are sincere.
First and foremost 1 would like to thank my supervisor, Edward Heinemann, who, from Our first meeting in Oxford, when 1 harangued him with questions about Rychner's theories, has guided this dissertation through various stages of rewriting. He has been a most perceptive, challenging, and thorough reader, for which 1 thank him sincerely.
To Brian Stock 1 am most grateful for thought-provoking discussion and guidance in the world of cognitive psychology, and to Will Robins who clarified my own cognition on many an occasion.
The chapter reading group of the University of Toronto's Centre for Reformation and Renaissance
Studies, under the cnlightened guidance of Dr. Michriel Milway (Curator of C.R.R.S.),provided a stimulating intellecturil environment, and companionship during the final months of writing. Thanks particularly to Laura Hunt, Margarct McGeachy, Michaei Milway and Dylan Reid, who read, commented on and discussed my third chapter in the dusky backroom of the Duke of Gloucester.
Many thanks to Charles Amoldi, Brian Angus, Oleg Bychkov, Bruce Cohen, Carrie Cockburn, Tim
Hellum, Karen Kom, Heather Munn, and David Ward, who have al1 at different moments and in different ways contributed to the completion of this dissertation. Their friendship has created the most precious memories of my years in Toronto.
To Paul, thanks for seeing this dissertation through its technically difficult submission process, for distraction at appropriate and inappropriate moments, and for not crashing in the face of distraction.
Finally, my deepcst and most sustained debt of gratitude is to my parents, Ona and George, who have ken strong, present, and bclieving throughout my life. Since 1 would not have completed this dissertation without their loving support, 1 dedicate it to them with most heartfelt thanks.
Paula Leverage Lafayette, February 1999 Abstract
The Chanson de Geste and Memory
by Paula Elizabeth Leverrige
Thesis subrnitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1999, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto
This thesis re-examines the role of repetition and memory in the cliansoris de geste in the light of scholarship on the aesthetic effect of repetition and developments in understanding human memory function. Approaching repetition from the perspective of the audience, 1 argue that mernory is intrinsic to the aesthetic of the cltnrrsori cie geste.
The thesis consists of two parts. The first part, in two chapters, demonstrates division and repetition in the cliarisotis cle geste. 1 argue that the audience is sensitive to the delineation of units through recognition of formulae and verbal and thematic repetition, and that through memory it collaborates in the pocrns by collriting these units.
The effects which emerge from audience recognitior. of the divisions and repetitions, and collation of the units these define, range from the simple construction of a narrative line to thc perception of psychological nuance in the case of certain disjunctive echoes.
The second part, in three chapters, extends the anrilysis both methodologically and chronologicrilly. The third chapter looks nt pardlels between division, collation, visualisation and aurilisation in the cliarisons de gesre and the mnemonic theories of Antiqui ty and the Middle Ages which both i ndicate similari ties and articulate di fferences.
These suggest a development of mnernonic theory in the direction of aesthetic technique on the part of the cltcinsoris de geste. The fourth chapter addresses the issue of the identity of the remembering subject through a close reading of the prologue to Rertairr de Moriraitbari which presupposes a remembering audience, and it asks how the remembering subject remembers from the viewpoint of cognitive science. The fifth chapter presents the epic echo as an extra-epic phenornenon by looking at effects of repetition in modern film and in Proust's A Ir1 reclr erche (hi temps perdu.
By approaching the cliansoris de geste from the perspective of the audience's memory, this thesis offers a new way of looking at the relationship between memory and the style of the poerns which respects and explains the latter's aesthetic implications. Contents Introduction 1 Part 1: Division and Repetition 10
Chapter 1: Division Il a) The Macro-Unit - Addresses to the audience, recapitulations, and the arîicrrlation motif - Formulae of transition - The long laisses in Renaut de Montauban: The discontinuous macro-uni t i) The long laisses ii) Repetitions iii) Displacement in the hanging episode iv) Displacement and a discontinuous contrapuntal narrative b) The Micro-Unit - The micro-units of laisse 27 in Elie de Saint Gille C) Conclusion Chapter 2: Repetition 45 a) Ami et Amile b) Renaut de Morrtauban C) Raoul de Cambrai d)Disjunctive echo from the perspective of Roland, Oliver and Renaut e) Conclusion Conclusion to Part I
Part II: Memory, Mnemonics, and the Remembering Subject Chapter 3: The Chansons de Geste and Medieval Mnemonic Theory a) Division and collation b) Visualisation and aurilisation c) Images from the mnemonic tradition in some Chansons de Geste prologues
Chapter 4: The Remembering Subject / The Subject Remembering a) The remembering subject: Audience inscription in the Renaut de Montauban prologue b) The subject remembering: Cognition of the disjunctive echo Chapter 5: Post Epic Echo
Conclusion Introduction
Beyond the special historical character of aesthetics, style can also be rern~ed
the etnbodirnent of dlthat ir pood for nienioty. ((Harald ~einrich)'
This thesis re-examines the role of repetition and memory in the chansons de geste in the
light of scholarship on the aesthetic effect of repetition, and developments in understanding
human memory function.' Recognising that the repetitions in these poems have a function
beyond prompting the performing jongleur, and re-examining the relationship between style
and memory, this study dissociates repetition from jongleur memory, and focuses on the role of
the audience's rnemory.
In the past, memory has been associa!ed with the clzansons de geste in three respects: social function, theme and performaiive stylistics. Firstly, critics have asked what it nieant io a medieval audience to have the mernories of their heroes preserved in song.' In an article in which he examines the social functions of the medieval epic, Joseph Duggan lists memory or
'preserving awareness of the past' as one of six fun~tions.~By 'preserving awareness of the
' 'Über Sprache, Leib und Gedachtnis,' in Matrriulitüt der Kommroiikation, cd. H. U. Gumbrecht and K. L. Pfeiffcr (Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, 1988) p. 92. My trans. ' E. A. Heinemann's rccent book, L'Art métrique de la chanson h geste: Essai sur la niusicalitd dit récit (Geneva: Droz, 1993), demonstrates that the repetition which pervades the chnnsoris de geste on many bels is an art. Developmcnts in memory rcsearch include the work of : Frederic C. Bartlett, Retnenibering: A Stridy in Experimental and Social Pqchology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1932; repr. 1961 ); Gerald Edelman, Neural Danvinism: The Theos, of Neuronal Grorrp Selecrion (New York: Basic Books, 1987); Israel Rosenfield, The Inventiori of Mentory: A New View of the Brain (New York: Basic Books, 1988); David Rubin, Mernury in Oral Traditions: The Cognitive Psychology of Epic, Ballads, and Couriting-Out Rhymes (New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995). John Benton, ' "Nostre Franceis n'unt talent de fuïr?' ': the Song of Roland and the enculturation of a warrior class' Olifant 6 (1979), 237-58; Peter Haidu, The Subject of Violence: The 'Song of Roland' and the Birth of the State (Bloornington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, I993), pp. 44-65 4 'Social Functions of the Medieval Epic in the Romance Literatures', Oral Trudition 1/3 (1986). 728-66. When Duggan lists the six social functions of the epic at the beginning of his article (p. 730) he does not use the word 'rnemory'. He expresses this idea as 'preserving awareness of the past'. Later in the article, he refers to this same function as 'preservation of the memory of past events' (p. 745). The other social functions of the epic listed by Duggan are: entertainment, information, sanction of conduct, providing models for imitation and economy. When past', Duggan means that the poems are a repository of community wisdom and a record of his tory.
Secondly, memory appears on the thematic level of the poems, motivating revenge
(particularly in the cycle of the Barons in Revoit), enabling recognition scenes between long lost friends and relatives, and supporting a history of heroes and families which preserves the values of the epic community.
The thematic importance of memory in the charisons de geste is evident from narratorial
comrnents and from descriptions of character involvement with memory. Most of the narratorial
comments conceming memory occur in the prologues of the clznnsons de geste. The prologue to
the Occitan chanson de geste, Girrrrt de Roltssillon, refers to the commemorative function of
the poem:
Ccstc muct dc Folcon c dc Folchui, E dc Girart Ic contc la vos rcviu (vv. 12-39
The Occitan verb reviudrw, rneaning in this context 'to remind of. literally rneans 'faire
revivre, ïessusciter', an interesting gloss on the medieval understanding of memory, which
apparently in this case was more a matter of bringing the hero back to life than a historical
account of his lifeB6
Daniel Poirion refers to Duggnn's six social functions of the epic, he uses 'memory' instead of 'preserving awareness of the past', Précis de 1ittBratw-efrançaise du Moyrrt Age (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1983), p. 63. ed. Mary Hackett, (Paris: Picard, 1953). 6 In an article on mcdieval art Giles Constable remarks a tcndency of the men and women of the Middle Ages 'to enter into the past and experience it in their own lives', 'A Living Past: The Historical Environment of the Middle Ages', Harvard Library Bdletin n.s. 3 (1990), 49-70, p. 50. Constable's observations concern the medievals' approaches to art, but he cites Lidolf of Saxony's Vita Christi which recomrnends a similar approach to text: 'although many of these things are narrated as if they were in the past (in praeteriio) you should meditate on al1 of them as if they were done in the present (in prnesentia) since you will without doubt taste a greater sweetness froin this. Read, therefore, what has becn done as if it were being done; place before your eyes deeds of the past as if they were present, and you will thus feel them as more tasty and agreeable.' (p. 5 1j. Lidolf of Snxony encourages his text's rçcipients to actualize the text's contents. By encouraging the text's recipient to actualize the events of The prologue to the Enfances Guillaume attributes the creation of the poem to a monk who
feared that Guillaume might be forgotten:
Uns gentis moines, ki a Saint Denisc icr, Quant il oit de Guillaume parlcir, Avis li fut k'i fut antroblieis, Si nos an ait les vers rcnovclcis, Qui ot el role plus des cents ans estcis. (vv. 16-20)'
The concluding verses sometimes reiterate a concem with the preservation of the hero's
memory. For example, at the end of Ami et Amile, the narrator voice declares:
Ici sera la chansons defince Dcs douz barons qui n cstd çhantcç. Cc est d'Amilc a la chicrc menibrcc, D'Ami Ic conte, qui ot tel rcnammec Que toiiz jors mais noz scra ramcmbrcc Jusqu'en la fin dou monde (vv. 3499-504)'
These evocations of memory stress the importance of commemoration, and point not only to the
preserving poet, but also to the audience without which there would be no remembrance.'
The memory of the characters of the poems is often associated with action. As an exarnpie,
Raoul de Cambrai's memory of his father provides the impetus necessary to fight when he cornes face to face in a skirmish with Jehan the Valiant, a man of huge proportions and frightening reputation. Raoul's perception of Jehan is as follows:
Devant lui garde, vit Jehan le vaillant: cil tint la terre de Pontiu et de Ham; en toute I'ost n'ot chevalier si grant, ne homme nul qe R[CLOUS)doutast tant - asseiz fu graindrcs qe Saisnes ne gaians,
Christ's life, he increases the immediacy of the Christian message transmitted by the text. Also sec Harry Caplan, Of Eloquence: Stridies in Ancient and Mecliaevul Rhetoric (Ithaca; London: Corneil University Press, 1970), 'It is safe to say that to the ancients the re-enactment of the pst in present thought is not unlike the operation of memory.', p. 202. ' ed. Patrice Henry (Paris: Société des anciens textes français. 1935). ed. Peter Dernbowski (Paris: Champion. 1969) '1 Cf. Mary Cruruthers, The Book of Memory: A Strrdy of Memory in Medieval Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990)' pp. 179-83: Carruthers' analysis of the ethics of reading and remembering in an anecdote related by Abelard where she posits in this instance the necessity of 'a recollecting subject, a remembered text, and a remcmbering audience'. plus dc cent homes avoit ocis au branc. (vv. 2557-62)"
Not surprisingly, Raoul is reluctant to move to combat with Jehan:
R[aous] I'esgrirdc qant le va avisant: si gant le voit seoir sor I'auferrant por tout l'or Dieu n'alast il en avant, (vv. 2563-5) until his memory provides the necessary motivation for action:
qant ii rcmenbrc dc Taillcfcr errant, qi fu ccs peres ou tant ot hardernant. Qant l'en souvint, si prist hardcrneinlt tani por qarante homes nc fuïst il de champ. (vv. 2566-9)
Then Raoul, pressed into action by the memory of his father, is himself presented as a positive example in combat. or as a memory in the making:
Qi(1) li vcïst son cscu manoier, dcstrc ct senestre au branc Ics rcns scrchicr, bien li mcnbrrisi dc hardi chcvalicr (vv. 2528-30)
As Raoul is in the process of creating mernories by courageous feats in battle, the poet is emphasising the historicity of the moment. Action is transformed into mernory to be used as a mode1 which itself is in tum transformed into action,
The third association between the chamon de geste and memory concerns performative stylistics. In previous criticism the association between memory and style has been made in the context of the poems' performance. This is the notorious question of the oral-formulait nature of the poems. Throughout the corpus of the chansons de geste, formulae are repeated frorn poem to poem, and within individual poerns. Since Jean Rychner's application of Albert Lord and Milman Parry's work on the formulae of the Greek epics to the Old French epics, there has
--- -- 'O ed. Sarah Kay (Oxford: Clarendon, 1992). been a tendency to consider the repetitioiis of the poems as evidence that they were the products of oral composition, an aid to jongleur memory at the time of performance.''
The two theories conceming jongleur mernory, which represent each side of the traditionalist / individualist debate, are: firstly, that the jongleur constructed his song as he sang from a memorised database of motifs"; and secondly that the jongleur performed a poem which he had previously mernorised in toto.13 Intrinsic to the traditionalist side of the debate are certain stylistic characteristics of the genre: formulaic language, repetition, and audience addresses.
It has been traditional for analysts of the chanson de gesre to position themselves in either the traditionalist or the individualist camp before proceeding with their contribution to the understanding of these poems. This thesis will not address the age-old oral 1 written debate for two reasons. Firstly, the question has been disputed in much detail and it is likely that it will continue ïo be discussed without ever reaching resolution. Secondly, the questions which this thesis will address do not require that an indisputable conclusion be reached on this matter. The aesthetic effects of the genre remain unchanged whichever side of the individualist 1 traditionalist fence one prefers. As David Rubin who has re-examined the relation between the
II La Clianson de Geste: Essai sur 1 'art épique des jongleurs (Gcncva: Droz, 1953, pp. 126-53. " Ryçhner, pp. 127-8. Rychner was influenced by Albert Lord who argued ihat the mechanisrn of oral tradition does not cntail memorization of the poetic text, but a recrcation frorn thc performance he has heard and rerncmbered. See J. Duggan, The Song of Roland: Forrrtukric Style atid Poetic Crcji, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973), 'the singer retains the sequcnce of events in the plot from the performance he ha overheard. His own version will be a re-creation of each poetic line, motif, and theme, with the insertion or omission of as much material as he deems fit; he employs formulas of his own choosing which may or may not coincidc with thosc of the source performance ...' , p. 5. I3 See Maurice Delbouille, 'Les chansons de geste et le livre', in Lu Technique littéraire des chansons de geste (Paris: Belles Lettres, 1959), pp. 295-407: 'les chansons de geste telles que nous pouvons les connaître, appartenaient à la tradition occidentale de la littérature, tradition où, destiné au jeu dramatique, au chant, ii la récitation, à la lecture à haute voix ou à la lecture des yeux, un texte conçu par son auteur comme une oeuvre d'art achevée et précieuse, est et reste la chose essentielle ...' (p. 404). Also Ramon Menéndcz Pidal, La Chanson de Roland et la tradition épique des Francs, 2" edn, uans. by Irénée-Marcel Cluzel, (Paris: Picard, 1960). pp. 5 1-82. Menéndez Pidal departs from Rycliner and the American traditionalism represented by Albert B. Lord in that he does not conceive of the performance as a spontaneous recreation through the medium of formulaic phraseology. For Menéndez Pidal the poems are passed froni performer to perforrner almost intact. style of various kinds of oral literature and the performer's memory function from the
perspective of cognitive psychology. points out:
...the mind that writes is not very different frorn the mind that does not. It has an addcd tool of writing at its disposai, but it can still work without it. We can say that certain tcxts must have been transmitied through writing because they have no form of organization that could preserve them through oral transmission."
The interpretation of the relationship between the style of the chanson de geste and memory which associates the repetition with the jongleur's performance is based on two points: the perception of repetition in the poems as tedious and secondly. the assumption of a direct relationship between verbal repetition and active recal~.'~The first point has been invalidated by recent literary research on repetition in the poems. such as that of E. A. Heinemann, which illustrates that metric, verbal and narrative repetition is artfully construed for effect.16
The second point is undermined by the work of David Rubin, who. in studying ballads, counting-out rhymes and the Homeric and South Slavic epics from the point of view of cognitive psychology, argues that oral production reproduces structures rat her than speci fic phrases.17Indeed Rubin argues that verbatim recall is not characteristic of the transmission of oral poetry: It is not just tliat vcrbatim mcmory is absent. What 1 claim, and what is more intriguing, is thnt one specific variant of a song is not bcing transmittcd at all. Rathcr, what is bcing transmittcd is thc themc of the song, iis imagcry, its poctics, and some specific dctails. A vcrbatim tcxt is not bcing lransmittcd, but instead an orpnizcd set of rules or constraints ihat are sct by the piecc and its tradition. In litcrary tcrms. this claim makes the structure of the genre central to the production of the piece. In psychologicril tcrms, this claim is an argument for schemas that involvc imagery and poetics ns wcll as meüning.'"
He refers to two studies by 1. M. L. Hunter who argues convincingly that there are no documented cases of pieces of over fifty words long being recalled verbatim in any oral tradition without a parallel written record being available to the singers.19
14 Memory in Oral Traditions, p. 196. I5 Rychner, La Chanson de geste, p. 149. l6 L'An métrique. l7 Memory in Oral Traditions: pp. 194-226 deal specifically with the epic. l8 ibid. p. 7. " 'Lengthy verbatim recall (LVR)and the mythical gift of tape-recorder memory'. in Psychology in the 1990s, ed. by K. M. J. Lagerspetz and P. Niemi, (Amsterdam; New York: North-Holland, 1984), 425-40; 'Lengthy verbatim recall: The rote of a text' in Progress iri the Psychology of hnguuge, 2 vols, ed. A. Ellis, (London: Lawrence By looking at the style of the chanson de geste from the perspective of the audience's memory instead of the jongleur's mernory, this thesis proposes a way of considering memory and style which accounts for the new understanding of the aesthetics of repetition, and which retums memory from the realm of performance to the position it held in Antiquity and the
Middle Ages as a component of rhetoric.
The two main hypotheses of this thesis are that audience memory is a vital component of the chnson de geste aesthetic, and that there are parallels between the poetic structures of the chansons de geste and the mnemonic strategies recommended by medieval memory theory.
The thesis consists of two pans. The first part subdivides into two, and the second into three chapters. The first part of this study, which establishes that the chansous de geste consist of compositional units of various sizes and that some of the aesthetic effects rely on audience memory for recognition of repetitions, is grounded in an analysis of the style of the chmsom de geste. The second part explores the connection between audience memory and cltanson de geste style by looking at it from perspectives exterior to the chonsoris de geste: by introducing evidence from medieval mnemonic theory, by considering the cognitive processes involved in audience recognition of repetition, and by demonstrating that sirnilar techniques, dependent on the audience's memory are being used by twentieth-century writers and film directors. The anaiogous use of repetition in twentieth-century works of fiction and film, where the repetition cannot be rnistaken as a mnemonic prop for the purposes of performance, is further evidence of its aesthetic implications.
The first part deals with two of the most prominent stylistic features of the chansons de geste: division and repetition. Division and repetition are stylistic features of the poems which have frequently been associated with jongleur performance and memory. My analyses of
Erlbaum Associates, 1985), 1,207-35. Rubin States: 'In fact, the whole concept of verbatim recall requires rt record 8 division and repetition suggest that if there is a connection to be made between the style of the chansons de geste and memory, it is the memory of the audience which should receive the greatest emphasis. In the first chapter. 1 examine the division of the c/innsons de geste into textuai units ranging in size from a couple of verses to hundreds of verses. The second chapter looks at examples in three clzansons de geste, which illustrate the aesthetic effect of repetition, and the audience's involvement in recognising and collating the repetitions. The argument in both of these chapters is based on close readings of passages from the following poems: Renmit de Montauban, Elie de Saint Gille, Ami et Anzile, and Raoul de Cr~mbrcti.In addition to providing examples of the function of division and repetition in the chansons de geste, these readings present new interpretations of the passages examined.
The third chapter outlines parallels between the clzmsons de geste and medieval mnemonic theory: it presents processes of division, gathering and visualisation as common to both. This chapter closes with a look at the use of images from the rnnemonic tradition in the prologues of some of the clzrrnsons de geste. Although there are striking analogies between the structuring of the clinnsons de geste and the way in which the mnemonic treatises advised students to structure their memories, 1 do not argue that the vemacular epic poets were familiar with the treatises. Although this is not entirely impossible, there is little enough evidence of the identity of the poets, much less their scholarship. However, in a society imbued with a meinory culture, the analogies between the memory theory of the treatises and the chansons de geste may indicate underlying structures of the mentaiity of the time, just as for instance the pervasive presence of cornputers in contemporary society has engendered a mentality of reference.
The fourth chapter will address the question of the remembering subject , which is touched upon in the first part of this study when it becomes clear from analysis of repetitions that
other than human memory.' Mernory in Oral Traditions, p. 6. 9 audience memory is essential to the aesthetics of these poems. Four points lead us to consider the audience as the remembering subject. The first three points emerge from arguments presented in Chapter 3, and the founh, I develop in the first part of this chapter. Firstly, the medieval interest in memory aids concemed the memory of the reader, the recipient of a text."
The medieval reader leamed mnemonic principles in order to better retain, recover, and present in new combinations and contexts any given text. This is in contrast to the focus in Antiquity when the emphasis was on the orator, the creator of the text, who applied mnemonic principles to a text in order to deliver it accurately." Secondly, the rnnemonic patteming of the text exercises audience memory in the collation of units created by textual division. and the
'gathering' of the repetitions constituting disjunctive echoes. Thirdly, the veik~iez/ oïssiez addresses of the chansons de geste solicit acts of visualisation and aurilisation from the audience." The fourt h point, developed in the founh chapter through detailed textual analysis, concems the inscription of a remembering audience in the prologue of Renaut de Montrruhnn.
In the second part of the chapter 1 shall look at the process of audience memory and the production of aesthetic effect from repetitions from the peapec tive of cognitive psychology.
The fifth and final chapter presents repetition as an aesthetic phenomenon in contemporary
Hollywood films and in Proust's A fa recherche di1 temps perdu. The contention of the chapter is that the film directors and Proust use repetition for effect in the sarne way as the chmsons de geste. Proust's use of repetition as a stylistic device which relies on audience memory occurs in the context of a literary exploration of rernernbering.
'O See Chapter 3, pp. 77-80. " ibid. p. 76. " See Chapter 3, pp. 89-98. Part 1
Division and Repetition
Division and repetition are two distinguishing features of chansor1 de geste style. The poems present their narrative divided into units of verses, laisses, episodes, and, for some critics, séances which feature repetition on the metric, but also on the verbal and thematic levels.
Division and repetition are not unrelated stylistic traits in the poems since repetition frequently marks out the boundaries of the narrative units, and passages of repeating verses form a particular kind of unit.
1 shall analyse division and repetition in the chanson de geste by giving close readings of passages chosen as examples. The analyses will demonstrate some of the effects which emerge from audience recognition of the divisions and repetiiions, and collation of the units these dcfine, ranging from simple construction of a narrative line, to the subtle, psychological insights of the disjunctive echoes in Chapter 2.
The ftrst chapter will consider the division of the chansons de geste into units measured by the laisse, and the articulation of these divisions. The second chapter will deal with verbal and thematic repetition. Chapter 1
Division
Chansor~sde geste are cûmposed in laisses, structural units evident to a lisiener through a
change of assonance at the laisse break, to a reader of medieval manuscripts through decorated
initials at the laisse beginning, and to a modem reader, through blank spaces on the printed
page. That the laisse is a narrative division is self-evident to the point that scholars often do not
even justify laisse structure as a criterion for analysing the poems.
The principal studies, on which al1 other studies of the laisse are based, are those of
Mildred Pope and Jean Rychner.' The laisse has been studied extensively, as a feature of
chanson de geste style in general, and as a component of stylistic effects in particular poerns.'
Rychner, like Pope before him, saw the simple correspondence between laisse and incident,
as found in the Oxford Roland, as the earliest and purest use of the laisse. The long and diffuse
later laisse, which Rychner called 'composite', is, in this view which is still wide-spread, a
weakening of the device.
' Pope, 'Four Chansons de geste: A Study in Old French Versification', Modern Luigirage Review, 8 ( 19 131, 352- 67; 9 ( 19 14), 4 1-52; 10 ( 19 15). 3 10- 19; Rychner, Lu Chanson de geste, Ch. IV, pp. 68- 125. ' Siuclics which deal with the laisse in gcncral: Timothy Hcmming, 'La Forme de la laisse épique et le problèmc des origines' in Actes du VIe Congrès international de la Sociéte' Rencesvals (Aix-en-Provence: 1974), 221-39; Angelo Monteverdi, 'La Laisse 6pique1, in La Technique Littéraire des chansons de geste (Paris: Bclles Lettres, 1959), 127-40; Werner Mulertt, Luissenverbindurig rrnd Laisseniviederholurtg in deri Citansons de Geste (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1918); Cesare Segre, 'Il Boeci, i poemetti agiografichi e le origiiii della forma epica', Alti della Accadernia delle Science di Torino, 89 (1954-55), 242-92; Karl D. Uitti, Story, Myth and Celebrution irt Ofd French Narrative Poetry, 1050-1200, (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1973j, pp. 1 16-19; Paul Zumthor, Essai de poétique médiévale (Paris: Editions du Seuil, l5)72), pp. 328-3 1. Studies which ded with the laisses in particular poems: Jeanne Baroin, Simon de Pouille, (Genève: Droz; Paris: Minard, 1968) pp. 144-74; Dominique Boutet, 'Ami er Amile et le renouvellement de I1t?critureépique vers 1200', in Alni et Amile, Une chanson de geste de 1 'amitié,ed. by Jean Dufournet, 79-92, (Paris: Champion, 1987), pp. 85-9 1 ; Boutet, Jehan de Lanson. (Paris: Presses de l'École Normale Supdricure, 1988) pp. 2 1-89, 185-20 1,218-2 1 ; Anne Iker Gittleman, Le Style épique dans 'Garin le Loherain' (Geneva: Droz, 1967), pp. 84-103; Richard Hartman, 'Laisse Division in Two Later Epics: Ai01 and Parise la Duchesse', Olifant, 12: 1 (1987), 5-27; Marguerite Rossi, 'Huon de Bordeaux' et 1 'évolution drr genre épique air Xlll' siScle (Paris: Champion, 1975), pp. 131-59; Jean Subrenat, Etttde sur 'Guydon', Chanson de geste du Xlll'siècle (Aix-en-Provence: Université de Provence, 1974) pp. 95- 1 12. See Heinemann, L'Art niérriqte, p. 140, n. 1. 12 Heinemann argues for a different perspective, in which the laisse imposes unity on various
segments of narrative, whether it is a long, composite laisse, or a short, one-incident lai~se.~He
has demonstrated complex effects of rhythm associated with laisse division in the William
cycle, which undermine Rychner's judgement of the Roland as the most stylistically
sophisticated chanson de geste.4
Whether the laisse emphasises or creates homogeneity, the important points are that the
laisse is a unit and that, since the narrative is distributed across the laisses, the narrative is
presented in units.
Laisses combine to fom larger units which 1 shall cal1 macro-units, and the laisse itsclf
comprises smaller units, which 1 shall cal1 micro-uni ts.
The articulation of the macro-units is made ttirough many formal devices, among them: 1)
addresses to the audience, recapitulations, and articulation motifs, which divide the poems into
performative units 2) formulae of transition, which divide the poems into narrative units by
marking shifts between realms of character action which are usually geographically distinct, 3)
a grouping of long laisses, or a combination of these three kinds of devices. The articulation of the micro-units is made through repetition.
This study will start by reviewing scholars' division of the poems on the basis of addresses
to the audience and formulae of transition. 1 will introduce a macro-unit in Rerzatiî de
Montauban which emerges from the collation of long laisses. Finally, I shall illustrate the
3 L 'Art n16triqire, pp. 139-320. 4 "'Composite laisse" and Echo as Organizing Principles: The Crise of Laisse 1 of the Cliarroi de Nîtries*, Roniatice Pliilology, 37 (November 1983) 2, 127-38; 'Measuring Units of Poçtic Discourse: Analogies Between Laisse and Verse in the cliarisori de geste', in Romance Epic, Essays otz a Metlieval Genre, ed. Hans-Erich Keller (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Western Michigan University, 1987), pp. 21-34; 'Sens et effets dc sens des unités métriques dans la chanson de geste française', in Air Carrefour des rorrtes d'Erirope: ln chanson de geste (Actes du Xe Congrès International de la Socitté Rencesvrils, Strasbourg 1985), (Aix-en-Provence:Université de Provence, 1987)' 643-57; 'Some Reflections on the Laisse and on Echo in the Three Versions of the Prise d'Orange', Ol@iuttt,3:1 (1975), 36-56; 'Sur l'art de la laisse dans le Corrronnenrerit de Louis*, in Cliarleniagne et I 'épop&e micro-unit by examining how repetition divides one laisse of Elie de Suint Gille into units
smaller than the laisse.
a) The MacrolUnit
1. Addresses to the audience, recapitulations, and the crrticulation motif
Jean Rychner's division of chansons de geste into performative units, or séances, based on
addresses to the audience, (a critical insight already anticipated by Halphen and Martin-Chabot
in the early twentieth century), is the starting point for rny analysis.'
Looking at the probable length of a séance, he noted M. Murko's observation that oral
poets in the former Yugoslavia could perform one to two thousand verses in a two-hour session,
and he examined the poems of his corpus for evidence of such units of narrative. The
Pélerincige (870 verses), the Charroi de Nîmes ( 1486 verses), the Prise cl 'Orange ( 1887
verses), and the Chunson de Guillartrne (1980 verses), al1 shorter than the hypothetical
maximum session, revealed to hirn no indication of a breakdown into sessions, but he found
indications of boundaries between sittings in the Coitronnement de Louis, the Monhge
Guiilmime and Raoul de ~ctrnbrni.~In each instance the narrator addresses the audience io
announce future episodes, or resume the action up to the present moment, and Rychner found
that the boundaries corresponded to sessions between one and two thousand verses. Although
------rottiane, (Actes du VII' Congres international de la Société Rencesvals, Liege 1976 (Paris: Belles Lettres, 1978), 383-9 1. Louis Halphen,'Histoire de France: Le Moyen Age jusqu'aux Valois'. Revue Historiqrte, 143, (1923). 210-52. comrnenting on M. Melander's edition of Guibert d'Atidrenas, '... il eût été facile de marquer dans I'épopke quelques grandes divisions correspondant de toute évidence (les reprises du récit en sont la preuve) aux diverses séances de récitation dont elles fournissaient la matière.' p. 24 1 ; Eugène Martin-Chabot in his 193 1 edition of La Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise divides Guillaume de Tudèle's poem into twelve episodes and a prologue, each of approximately two hundred verses, on the basis of the addresses made to the audience. 6 Ln Chanson de Geste, pp. 48-54 (Murko, La poésie populaire &pique en Yotcgoslavie ai4 début du ,W siècle, 1929). Rychner's criteria have not led to the discovery of sessions clearly marked in the poems, the idea of a session delimited by fomal characteristics has borne some fruit.'
Pierre Ruelle notes five addresses to the audience in the Tours manuscript of Hlion (le
~ordrairx.~He points out that the address at vv. 4976-91 divides the poem into two parts of almost equal length and suggests that the poem was recited in two sittings, starting after dinner and continuing until twilight. This division implies substantially longer sittings than Rychner had proposed, which Ruelle justifies by observing that, by Rychner's standards, it would have taken five to ten days to sing al1 of Hlio12 de Bordeam at LOO0 to 2000 verses per day, and thüt this would have been a huge cornmitment of time for a popular audience. Ultirnately, he ac knowledges the difficulty of disceming si ttings from a manuscript, with the comment, 'Rien ne permet de déceler les pauses que le jongleur faisait vraisemblablement.'
Arthur Kimmel and Joseph Duggan develop Rychner's observations, finding séance divisions within Daiirel et Beton and the Oxford Roland which are not based on addresses to the audience, but on recapitulations within the narrative and 'articulation motifs'.
In his introduction to the Old Provençal epic Daurel et Beton, Kimmcl considers the
'recitative ingredients' of the poem.9 ~e remarks that ihere are recapitulations of the story at vanous intervals which are made by the characters, not the narrator. He argues, on the basis of
Thefollowing are exarnples of the addresses to the audience: 'Or rn'escoutés, li gant et li menor, Bone chanson de la geste Francor.' (vv. 1-2, ia Prise de Cordrrs et de Sebile); 'Laissiés la nosie ester, si vos traiés vers mi' (Aiol. v. 5); 'Sachiez que chi endroit est Iri canchon finee - Dex vous garisse tous qui l'avez escoutee, Par si que moi n'oblit qui la vous ai chantee' (vv. 291 1-13 Gui de Nanteuil, Ms. M); 'Segnor preudomme, certes, bien le vées, Pres est de vespre, et je suis moult lassé.' (vv. 3976-7, Huon de Bordeaitx). This last passage is much quoted as evidence of sittings; 'Or escoutés, signor, que Dieus gant bien vous don, Li glorieus del ciel par son sriintisrnes non. Chi vous Iairons d'Elye, si dirons des prisons' (vv. 572-4, Elie de Snirir Gille).The first two examples are located at the beginning of the pocm, the third at the end. 8 Hilon de Bordeui~r,ed. P. Ruelle (Bruxelles: Université Libre de Bruxelles; Paris: Presses Universitaires françaises, 1960). p. 53. See also K. Voretzsch, Epische Stirdiert. 1. Die Kontpositio~rdes "Hidori de Bordearrx ", nebsr kritisclteri Berrterkrrngen iiber Begriff rrrid Bedeutirrrg der Sage (Halle: Niemeyer, 1900) and M. Rossi, Hidori de Bordeaux, pp. 53-4 , 123-31, who divide the poem into five parts on the basis of literary evidence: 'Nous sommes plus ii l'aise pour juger sur le plan littéraire l'effort d'organisation que l'on peut attribuer à l'auteur du texte que nous lisons', Rossi, p. 129. Daarel et Bero,~,pp. 64-6. 15 the namator's use of imperatives addressed to the audience, that Dacirel et Beton contains traces of oral performance, but he does not use those addresses as rnarkee of the boundaries between seances. He determines the divisions of the poem on the basis of narrative recapitulations which serve to remind the changing audience of what has already transpired. Kimrnel has based his breakdown of the poem on the generalities of Rychner's idea, (i.e., that a poem can be divided into sections based on forma1 characteristics), but he has changed the terms upon which
Rychner's idea rests.
Duggan deals with the problem Rychner saw in the absence of séance-marking addresses to the audience in the Oxford Rokirid. He argues that the poem consists of four sections, the beginnings of which are marked by a repetition of the opening verses of the poem, and he coins the term 'articulation motif' to denote this series of repeating verses which mark the major divisions of the poem. 'O He remarks that these larger sections of the poem correspond to themes, just as the laisse corresponds to the motif, and the verse to the formula.'' This comment, however, is made very firmly in the context of his belief that the sections of the
Rolcnd demarcated by the 'articulation motif are performative sections. Like Rychner, Duggan argues that any division of the poem into sections is primarily for performative reasons:
Returning io the articulation motif, WC find that iis four occurrences are each at ihc threshold of a major narrative division. or theme. Their funciion, however, is not thematic but presentaiional.'t
Kimrnel and Duggan, while rnaintaining the premise of the séance, base their division of
Daurd et Beton and the Roland on formal characteristics, which are only some among many forma1 features which mark off narrative segments at a wide range of levels.
'"he Song of Roland, pp. 63- 104. l' ibid. p. 67. '' i bid. 16 Rychner's ideas conceming the division of the poems into performative units based on addresses to the audience has been challenged as well.
In the context of the traditionalist 1 individualist controversy, Maurice Delbouille points out the disparity between third-person references to a composing / performing jongleur and
Rychner's claim that the performer and poet are one and the same. Delbouille's proposed explanation is that the poems were written by poets to be performed hy jongleurs and that the addresses to the audience are scripted by the poet for the jongleur rather than spontaneous, performative exclamation."
Following Delbouille's distinction between poet and jongleur, Jean-Charles Payen concludes that the addresses to the audience are literary constructions:
Et même lorsque se multiplient les appels il un auditoire apparemment turbulent et multiple, il faut bien se garder d'être dupe, puisque les < For Payen the audience addresses are literary devices which impart an antique air to the poems. It is significant that the oldest known chanson de geste, the Oxford Roland, does not contain even one address to the audience. Stephen Nic hols explores the difference in frequency of audience address between the early and the late chansons de geste, and concludes that the addresses in the later epics are evidence of an omnipresent poet who is more engaged in the narrative of his poem than the poets of earlier epics who addressed the audience to attract its attention at key moments. He develops the argument for a literary function of the addresses to '' 'Quand le jongleur est censé parler en son nom propre, en sa qualit6 de jongleur. le texte use de la première personne: c'est le jongleur qui réclame le silence, annonce sa chanson, demande à être paye, parle de ses concurrents et dit comment il a pu se procurer la meilleure version de la geste, ce qui n'empêche pas, bien entendu, que les vers où il le fait sont l'oeuvre du trouvhre à qui il prête sa voix.' 'Les Chansons de geste et le livre', p. 335. '" Histoire de fa littérature fronpise, 2 vols, (Paris: A. Colin. 1969-70)' 1. p. 38. 17 the audience so far as to speak of: 'un vrai schéma d'interventions, qui informe et anime la structure même de la chanson' in the later epics.I5 Building on Payen's idea that the addresses to the audience are literary constructions, Marguerite Rossi points out the dramatic, humorous potential of a performer assuming the persona of a miserable jongleur.I6 However problematic the formal marks of the séance may be, these developments of Rychner's suggestion do make the point that the perfomative unit, the séance, is a narrative division of the text. As such, it is part of a larger phenornenon of narrative presentation in macro-units articulated by a range of forma1 means. 2. Formulae of transition Unlike the addresses to the audience which may be markers of petformative séances or narrative units, formulae of transition clearly divide the poem on the narrative level. A formula of transition is a phrase in the narraior's voice which negotiates ü shift from one narrative thread to another: Or vous lairons ici dou roi cstcr Des mesaigicr vos vorromes parler (Hervis rlr Mes, vv. 8885-6)" The distribution of formulae of transition varies from poem to poem. While the Oxford l5 'L'intervention d'auteur dans Ic Si2ge de Barbastre', in Boletin de la Real Acodernia de Buerias Letras de Barceloria, 3 1 ( 1965- l966), 243-50, p. 247. l6 '11 se pourrait donc fort bien qu'on se trouve devant une composition qui prenait tout son sel à être dite par un personnage impossible h confondre avec ce jongleur miséreux qu'il prétendait être, devant un auditoire bien circonscrit et non populaire qui aurait fort rgoûté cette fiction.' Huon de Bordeaux, pp. 128-29. " For a discussion of the differences between epic and romance formulae, see Maria Luisa Donaire Fernandez, 'Enfances Renier: l'entrelacement, une technique du roman,' in Essor et fortrine de la charison de geste dans l'Europe et l'Orient luti~l,Actes du IXccongrès de la Société Rencesvals, 2, (Modena: Mucçhi, 1984), 459-508. Roland (1080)'~and the Couronnement de Louis (1 130) l9 do not use such a formula, the Charroi de Nîmes (1 150) has three occurrence^,^^ the Prise d90rarcge(end of twelfth century) two," Guibert d 'Andrenas (12 10- 1225) one," Hervis de Mes ( 1220) seventy-eight," the Enfuzces Guillaume (c. 1250) nine,24and Jorirdoin de Blaye ( 1250- 1300) one oc~urence.'~ Since Ferdinand Lot's seminal study of the prose Lancelot cycle, the term 'transition formula' has been more readily associated with the interlaced narrative of romance than with the epic? William Ryding's discussion of interlaced narrative and formulae of transition, which deals principally with Chrétien's Conte du Graal. does not recognise that these formulae lx cd. F. Whitehead, 2" cd., (Oxford: Blackwcll, 1946; rcpr. 1988). A grcat dcal of cnntrovcrsy has surroundcd the dating of thc Oxford Rolmd. Charlcs Samriran datcd thc Digby 33 manuscript to the sccond quartcr of thc twclfth century on thc basis of paleographical cvidcncc, La Charisort de Rolrrid, cd. Comte Alcxandrc dc Labordc, (Paris: Société dcs anciens textcs francpis, 1933) pp. 28-32. Julcs Horrcnt datcd the same manuscript on linguistic cvidencc to thc sccond half of thc twelfth ccntury , Lnr Charisotz de Roltnd dmrs les lirrércituresfrunpise er espagriole air niojen cigr, (Paris: Les Bcllcs Lcttrcs, 195 1) pp. 32-42. The datc 1080 is uscd for gcncral rcfcrcncc. '' ed. Erncst Langlois, 2" cd. (Paris: Champion. 1968). For dating, sce pp. vii-xiv. 'O cd. Duncan McMillan (Paris: Klincksicck, 1972). For dating, sec pp. 4 1-3. The formulac occur at vv. 998-9, vv. 1022-3. vv. 1034-5, al1 within laisse 39, and do no more than shift our gaze from onc charactcr to anothcr within thc saine scenc. " ed. Claude Régnier, 4" cd. (Paris: Klincksicck, 1972). For dating, sec pp. 34-6. The formulac occur at vv. 1252- 4, VV. 1655-6. '' ed. J. Melander (Paris: Champion, 1922). For dating, see pp. xlv-lxvii. The formula occurs at vv. 2442-5, Ms. Paris B.N.24369, now given thc siglum B2. " ed. Jean-Charles Herbin (Geneva: Droz, 1992). For dating, sec pp. Ixiii-lxviii. In addition to the IWO-part transition formula which states that the poet will leave the present subject material and then talk about sorncthing else, Hervis de Mes frequently uses a shortcned version of the formula, which siniply states the subject to which hc will turn his attention now, eg, 'Dou losangicr vos vorromes parler' (v. 1676). 1 have highlighied in bold the two- part formulae: v. 46, vv. 635-9, v. 640, vv, 807-11, v. 847, v. 860, v. 953, vv. 1009-10, vv. 1119-23, vv. 1195-8, v. 1676, v. 1726, v. 1943, v. 1982, v. 2278, v. 2600, v. 2610 (this is an extremely short transition which takes up only the second hemistich), v. 2712, v. 2784, vv. 2832-6. vv. 3161-76, v. 3475, v. 3600, v. 3947, v. 4273, v. 43 19. v. 4902, v. 4963, vv. 5524-9, vv. 5773-9, vv. 5879-81, vv. 59624, v. 6227, v. 6271, v. 6287, v. 6416, v. 652 1, v. 6545, v. 6560, v. 6568, W. 6885-7a, vv. 6895-6, v. 6959, vv. 6964-8, vv. 6974-6, v. 7247, v. 7383, vv. 7631-6, v. 7725, v. 7760, vv. 7819-21, v. 7904, v. 8067, W. 8098-9, vv. 8177-9, v. 8227, v. 8238, v. 8314, v. 8598, v. 8640, vv. 8885-7, vv. 8985-7, V. 9040, vv. 9068-9, V. 9 18 1, V. 9247, V. 9250, V. 9294, V. 9329, V. 9413, VV. 9762-4, V. 10030, vv. 10101-la, v. 10121, vv. 10176-9, v. 103 17, v. 10581, W. 10512-13. '' ed. P. Henry. For dating, see pp. xxix-xxxi. The formulae occur at vv. 699-701. vv. 139 1-4, vv. 2257-9, vv. 3208-12, VV.3298-9, VV. 3352-3, VV. 3407-8, VV. 3414-5, VV. 3424-5. ed. P. Dembowski. For dating, see p. vii. The formula occurs ai v. 2380. 2b Érude sur le hcelot en prose (Paris: Champion, 19 18). appear in the chanson de geste, and gives the impression that such formulae and interlacing are peculiar to thirteenth-century prose r~mance.'~ Jean Rychner, Marguerite Rossi, JeamPierre Martin, and Catherine Jones have described various functions of the formulae of transition in the chanson de geste, which range from facilitating an audience's comprehension, to reinforcing laisse structure, to managing transitions between narrative threads." Rychner deals with formulae of transition in Ln Chanson de geste: l'art dpique des jongleurs and in an article on narrative sequence in Ln Mort ~rtu.'~In these works, Rychner takes two very different approaches to formulae of transition, attributing a perforrnative function to the formula of transition in the chcrnson de geste, and a structuring, punctuating function to similar formulae in the rorncin. In his book Rychner uses the tem trunsition explicite to refer to verbal formulae which negotiate a transition between narrative threads." He compares the irmsition explicite with the cinnmce. because in eüch case the narrator explicitly iiegotiates a narrative transition, thus facilitating the audience's ~orn~rehension.~'Clearly Rychner believes that the function of the " Structure in Medievol Narrutive (Thc Hague; Paris: Mouton. 197 1) p. 142. Alihough Ryding reçognises that thcre arc carlier cxamples of intcrlaced narrative, his discussion deals mainly with thc Conte du Graal and the early thirtcenth-century prose cycle, the Lancelot-Gratil. '' Rccent studies of interlaced narrative in the cliansons de gme includc: Maria Luisa Donairc Fcrnbndcz, 'Enfances Renier: l'entrelacement, une technique du roman,'; François Suard. '~'Épo~riefrançaise tardive' in Études de philologie romone et d'histoire littéraire ofirtes B Jules Horrent. eds Jean-Marie d'Heur and Nicoletta Cherubini (Liège: 1980), 449-60; Robert Francis Cook, 'Unity and Esthetics of the Late Chansons de Geste,' Ol~aantr,1 1 (1986), 103- 14. See Catherine Joncs, 'La Tresse: Interlace in thc ch~nsoride geste', French Fontrn, 15.3 ( 199O), 26 1-75, pp. 273-4, n. 6. 29 'Analyse d'une unité transphrastique: La séquence narrative de même sujet dans la Morr Artu', in Beitrage zltr Te.rtlingrtisrik, cd. Wolf-Dieter Stempel (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 197 l), 79-122 La Chanson de geste, p. 64. )' The alinonces are anticipations of narrative action, pp. 54-67. Rossi mentions that the formulae are often understood as elements of oral style (p. 143). Robert Francis Cook also associates interlacing with performance when he suggests that the narrative segments of late, interlaced epics, correspond to performative séances: 'However the late poems may have been composed ... their audiences may well have enjoyed them segment by segment, within the time of actual reception. Each segment is a more or less self-contained story - but one comfortably set in a plenary whole in which known characters move toward a long-term resolution. The author's job, then, is to imagine peripeties and changes of setting which defer the resolution but never block it.', 'Unity and Esthetics*,p. 1 13. transition explicite is to enable the jongleur to maintain an audience's intere~t.~' In the later article Rychner interprets the transitions explicites as morphologicol markers which delimit narrative units. He describes them in the following terms: Ces formuics, énoncés explicites cn quelque sorte cxtéricurs au texte, sont comme des signes de ponctuation agrandis à l'échelle des longs chapitres qu'ils s~~arent.'~ Rychner's aim is to demonstrate that Ln Mort Artu can be divided into niorphologically marked sections of unified narrative action. In other words, he is searching the prose romance for compositional units which paralle1 the laisse structure of the clzanson de geste. in the absence of laisse structure in the romance, he takes the formula of transition to be the formal marker of narrative units. The difference of function which Rychner attributes in his article and in his book to the formulae of transition raises the question of the relationship of the formulae of transition to laisse structure, which Marguerite Rossi touches upon briefly in her comrnents on formulae of tnnsi tion in Hirm de ~orrleoicr.~~ Rossi points out formulae of transition in long laisses, taking us into the realm of the micro-unit, the narrative unit smaller than the laisse.35I deal with it at this moment in my discussion of macro-units, however, because the relationship between the laisse and the formulae of transition which she describes, illustrates, on a smaller scale, the punctuating function of the formulae which define the macro-units. Rossi notes that a formula of transition often introduces shifts to and from annexed episodes, which ampliQ the principal narrative content of the laisse, that the laisse never 31 'Quittant son héros pour quelque temps, et forcé à une coune digression au sujet de Landri le timonnier, le jongleur craint visiblement que son auditoire déçu ne se disperse. Il a donc bien soin de dire: Nous retrouverons Guillaume avant peu (ne perdez pas patience)!', La Chanson de geste, p. 64. 33 'Analyse', p. 8 1 '' Huon de Borûeo~rr,pp. 143-4 35 ibid. p. 143 2 1 finishes with an annexed episode, but that the action is always refocused around one of the principal heroes before the conclusion of the laisse, and that it is thus typical for a laisse to finish with a formula of transition which will fulfiII this function. The formulae of transition which Rossi discusses reinforce the laisse structure of Hr~onde Bordenu. A similar situation occurs in Hervis de Mes, where some of the forrnulae of transition occur at the boundary of a laisse, where they are repeated. This means that the formula of transition enables two transitions simultaneously: the enchaînement between laisses, and the transition between narrative threads. Laisses 10, 1 1, and 12 are linked through the repetition of formulae of transition: X Huimriis dirons, seignor, de Biautris Commc ccs cors fut tolus ct ravis! XI Ocz scignor por Dcu dc maistd! Dc Biautrix vos vorroic contcr, Commc ces cors fut ravis ct robcz. Dou roi d'Espaignc vos vorromcs prirlcr Si vos lairomcs del riche roi cstcr, Quant leus cn iert, bien cn snvrons parlcr XI 1 Dou roi d'Espaingnc vos laromcs isi. Si vos dirons dou richc roi dc Tyr The alignment of formulae of transition and boundaries of laisses imposes unity of content on laisse eleven, which focuses on the Spanish king. In spite of the differences in length of laisse 11 in three manuscripts (172 verses in Herbin's edition which is based on Ms. E; 192 verses in manuscript N; 184 verses in Ms. T) al1 three reproduce the repetitions of the formulae of transition and thus preserve the unity of the laisse. Laisse 42 of the Prise d'Orange provides a further exarnple of the relationship between transition formulae, laisse structure and narrative units. The transition formula which opens the laisse marks the beginning of an incident which stands as an isolaied unit, since the poem does not pursue the consequences of King Aragon's plea to Tiebaut for help, and Tiebaut's manne adventuring to Save Orable and Orange. In addition to marking shifts between micro-units, and emphasising laisse structure, formulae of transition occasionally appear at the boundaries of poems, which suggests the possi bi lity of viewing the poems themselves as macro-uni ts within the cycle. Formulae of transition occur at the end of Guibrrr rl'Aitdrenas and the Enfiartces Girillaio~ieannouncing the Dfifa>lces Vivien, and the Courorinerrmt ùe Louis re~~ectivel~.~" Jean-Pierre Martin's study is the most extensive recent inquiry into the formulae of transition of the c/to,i.soris de His work highlights the difference in the frequency of use of the formulü of transition between the early and the latcr epics, attributing the difference to the unilinear and plurilinear narratives of the early and late epics respectively. In the oldest chansons de geste, which are unilinear narütives, action may be divided into two scenes, (but the impression is always that the action in one scene has stoyped when the action in the second is being reported), and transitions between scenes are managed solely by means of narrative motifs (a messenger, an ambassador). The later epics are plurilinear narratives which narrate several simultaneous courses of action (mes izarrarqs), and effect transitions between ares narratifs through the use of narrative motifs, or formulae of transition, which he classifies as rhetorical motifs. Hervis de Mes is a good example of Martin's description of how the formula of transition functions to negotiate transitions between narrative threads in the later epic. The poem is 36 This is problematic since the Etifances Vivieri seems to be found in only one of the manuscripts contrtining Gtribert and it precedes Griibert by several poems. In all four manuscripts containing Guibert the next poem is the Mort Aymeri. See Madeleine Tyssens, La Geste de Cliillarrrne d'0rclrige clans les rrianirscrits cycliques, (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1967). pp. 39-45, and Melander, pp. 1-lxvii. " 'Sur le jeu des motifs dans Gari,* lc Lolirren: une narration plurilinéaire*,Revue des Lingues Roniones. 91: 1, (1987), 81-90. Martin mentions briefly the transition explicite in his discussion of 'les prologues internes' in Les Motif%dans la Clranson de Geste: Définition et Utilisation. Discours de l'Épopée M6diévale. 1 (Centre d'Études 2 3 organised around four centres: Metz, Tyr, Spain and the Lorraine (Brabant, Louvain). Each of these geographically defined areas represents a realm of action, or a narrative thread, which mobilises a distinct set of characters. Associated with Metz are Hervis, Thiem, Aelis, Duke Pierre; with Spain, the King; with Tyr, Eustaice, and Beatrix's family; and with the Lorraine, Anseys and his allies. The momentum of the poem as a whole derives from complications arising from the mingling of characters and plots from the different realm~.~~Whenever the formula of transition occurs, it descri bes a narratorial shift between these four realms of action. The formulae of transition of Hetvis de Mes not only negotiate shifts, but they circumscribe macro-units of narrative which are coherent in terms of geography, narrative action, and character involvement. An example of a rnacro-unit in Hervis de Mes is the episode introducing Beatrice, her kidnapping and joumey to Pans which appears between the parentheses of formulae transition during the events of the Foire de hgny." Catherine Jones describes the interlacing in Henjis de Mes as asso~iative.~~This term indicates narrative threads which are 'held together by mutual association with the protagonist and /or recumng themes', in contrast to cornplenlentary interlace, which refers to interdependent narrative threads?' The interest of Jones' concept of associative interlace to the present study is that it describes a narrative circumstance in which the audience of the text becomes involved in linking the macro-units defined by the formulae of transition in two Médiévales et Dialectales, Université de Lille III, 1992), p. 246. He gives a list of references to formulae of transition in the index of rhetorical motifs in the same work. 38 Beatrix is a case in point. She hails from Tyr, and yet lives in Metz, and through the desire of the King of Spain. she is pulled towards yet another area of the narrative. '9 J. C. Herbin. Hervis de Mes, p. Ixxiv. JO The Noble Merchanc Problems of Genre and Lineage in Hervis de Mes (Chape1 Hill: University of North Carolina, 1993), pp. 70-3,79-80; 'La Tresse: Interlace in the cltansort de geste*. 41 The Noble Mercltant, p. 73. 24 directions: from one macro-unit to the next within a single narrative thread, and between the associated macro-units of the different narrative threads. This suggests the possibility that the collation of macro-units, such as those defined by formulae of transition, may produce a range of effects similar in complexity to those of the disjunctive echo, discussed in Chapter 2.'' In conclusion, we may observe that the formuliie of transition delimit macro-units of narrative, and that occasionally, when they occur within a laisse, or coincide with laisse boundaries, they delimit micro-units, or reinforce laisse structure. 3. The long laisses in Rentzut de Mori~nuha~t:The disconiinuous macro-unit In Re~mrrtde Montauban, a sequence of long laisses, mnning from laisse 160 to laisse 207, constitutes a third kind of rnacro-unit. Marked by a concentration of long laisses, and the address to the audience which opens laisse 160,'~it is stmctured by three repetitions within the unit and a poetics of displacement. It is articulated in two principal parts: the Vaucouleurs ambush (laisses 160- 180, vv. 639043762), and the capture and planned hanging of Richart (laisses 18 1-207, vv. 8763- 10366)~~A third unit, which narrates a duel between Roland and Renaut at the end of the ambush narrative (laisses 17 1 - 180, vv. 8072-8762) acts as a transitional section joining the other two. The beginning of each of the three sections is highlighted by an address to the audience (see the underlining in the table below). Renaut is a dramatisation of the tension created by the CO-existenceof two systems of structure and organisation within one society: the Germanic kinship structure and the feudal society which eventually replaced it. Ogier finds himself tom between lineage and feudai 42 However, it is beyond the scope of the present study to deal with this possibiiity. 43 Jacques Thomas (ed), Renarrt de Montauban, Edition critique du manuscrit Douce (Droz: Geneva, 1989). 'Seignors, or faites pais, por Deu le vos requier, S'orrez bone chanson qui mult fet a proisier. (vv. 6390- t ).' Laisse 16 1 reitcrates ihe audience address: 'Seignors, or faites pais, por Deu et por sun non, Si porez ja oïr gloriose chrinçon.' (vv. 6792-3). 44 Thomas refers to these episodes as 'Le Traquenard de Vaucoufeurs' and 'Mésaventure de Richart' respectiveiy. obligation; Aymon is not only unable to help his sons, but he is expected to oppose tliem active^^''^; and in laisse 192 the barons desert Charlemagne because he expects one of them to hang Richart and too many of their number have bonds of kinship with Richart for this to be acceptable to them. The macro-unit in question explores the consequences of a double treachery: King Yon has betrayed Renaut and his brothers by sending them unawares to the trap at Vaucouleurs, thereby offending against both the feudal and kinship codes of behaviour, since Renaut contracted new feudal and kinship bonds when he became King Yon's vassal and married his sister. i) The long laisses In the introduction to his 1989 edition of manuscript Dl of Reimur rlr Montn~ibrrri,Jacques Thomas cornes close to identifying this section of the poem as a unit when he points out the unequal distribution of long laisses across the poem and suggests the possibility of a connection between laisse length and narrative ~ontent:'~ Cc n'est sans doutc pas un hasard, mEme s'il est difficile d'expliquer Ic phknomènc. On serait tcntd dc croire ii un lien cntrc longucur dcs laisscs et relief de lcur contenu, surtout quc Ic rccord cst attcint pour Ic traquenard dc Vaucouleurs, ou on çpinglera la séquence 160 (302v.;icr), !6 1 (5?4v.;on), 163, (8v.;i), t 63 ( 161 ~.;on)"~ Using Thomas' figure of 100 verses as the minimum of a long laisse, we find sixteen long laisses in ~enaut.'~Thirteen of these sixteen long laisses occur between laisses 160 and 207, J5 See laisses 82-3. The greatest concentration of long laisses is in the firsi iwo hundred laisses of the poem. From laisse 2 12 to the end of the poem the laisses are significantly shorter. The longest laissc in the series of laisses 2 12-446 measurcs sixty-four verses. 47 Reriairt, p. 67. Tlionias divides the poem into five principal parts and calculates the average length of the laisse in terms of the number of verses for each of these five parts. Discovering that the average nurnber of verses per laisse is highest in the section of the poem which he calls 'I'épisodc gascon', he cxplains the high average by referring to the large number of long laisses in this section. 48 He refers to 'le cap des IOO', p. 67. These are the laisses which are 'long' by Thomas' standard: L. 65 (226 v.), L. 125 (235 v.), L. 146 (134 v.), L. 160 (402 v.), L. 161 (574 v.), L. 163 (v. 161), L. 166 (v. 1981, L. 167 (v. 138)' L. 172 (v. 199)' L. 176 (v. 285), L. 181 (v. 362)' L. 183 (v. 103), L. 192 (v. 139)' L. 196 (v. 373), L. 197 (v. lW), L. 207 ( 155). (Thomas, pp. 66-7). and six of these are juxtaposed in pairs (laisses 1601161, 166/167, 196/197). With the exception of these pairs, and of laisses 146 and 183 (sequences of laisses of 82- 124-23 verses and 2 1- 103- 25 verses respectively), each of the long laisses in this section is preceded and followed by laisses which are shorter by at Ieast one hundred verses. The following tabulation of laisse length in this passage, in which the long laisses are highlighted in bold typeface, and those opening with an audience address underlined, illustrates the concentration of long laisses, the pairs of long laisses and the altemation of long and short laisses: The Ambush at Vaucauleurs The Capture and Planned Hanging of Richart Laisse Verse Count Laisse Verse Count In this modulation of narrative rhythm, the thirteen long laisses act as a discontinuous unit canying the narrative of the incidents of the ambush and the hanging. 160 King Yon treacherously sends Renaut and his brothers to an ambush at Vaucouleurs. 161 Renaut and brothers are ambushed at Vaucouleurs by Foque de Morillon, Ogier, and their men. A fight ensues. 163 Renaut and his brothers continue to defend themselves, while Ogier, their cousin, regrets his involvement in their betrayal. 166 Maugis comes to the brothers' rescue with Renaut's magical horse Bayart. Renaut resumes fighting and stans to duel with his treacherous cousin Ogier. 167 Duel between Renaut and Ogier 172 King Yon, hearing that Renaut and his brothers are retuming to Montauban, escapes to a monastery, where Roland finds him, and takes him prisoner. On their return, Renaut and brothers receive a message from Yon requesting their help. 176 Renaut tries to make peace with Roland, and when this fails, he offers single combat in lieu of battle. This is offer is refused, the battle begins, and Roland seeks out Renaut for a duel. 18 1 Richart is captured and taken to Charlemagne. Maugis undertakes to arrange his rescue. 183 Renaut sets out to rescue Richart. 192 The threat of hanging diminishes when the twelve peers desert Charlemagne. 196 Richart is saved and the hringman is saved from the fate he would have inflicted on Richart. 197 Renaut tries to make peace with Charlemagne. 207 The brothers return to Montauban. The episodes of the ambush at Vaucouleun and the hanging are a broken narrative since their principal parts appear in the long laisses w hich do not succeed each other directl y. Subnarratives such as the hcaling of Richart by Maugis (171)' and the narrative of the revelation of Yon's treachery to Maugis (164, 165) occur in the short laisses. The fact that the important events of the narratives of the Vaucouleurs ambush and the hanging occur in the long laisses establishes these laisses as constituting a kind of discontinuous unit. The listener / reader could receive these large units of narrative independently of the intervening short laisses, and still understand the story. Perhaps these parts of the poem were composed as extractable sections for 'out-of-context' performances. The association of the long laisses in the listener's mind effects a reorientation of the narrative flow such that he / she is able to construe a core narrative, a summarised version of the important events, through the structural asperiiies of the poem. ii) Repetitions Three instances of repetition occur within this section of the poem which emphasise the structure of the two-part macro-unit since they establish a End of symmetry between the episodes of the Vaucouleurs ambush and the The first instance of repetition which occurs between the episodes of the arnbush and the hanging concems the pattern of events. The narrative of both episodes falls into three main sections: 1. Plight. 2. Rescue by Maugis / Renaut 3. Return to Montauban. In the long laisses of both events, the narrative moves its characters through the matrix Plight- Rescue-Retum. The variable in the repetition concems number, since the first pattem Plight- Rescue-Return involves al1 four brothers, while in the second Richart is alone. The second instance of repetition concems the recital of a long prayer, which first occurs when Renaut, riding out to Vaucouleurs with his brothers, consoles himself by praying (laisse 161, vv. 6812-37). It later is repeated with variation by Richart as he waits to be rescued from the hangman (laisse 196, vv. 9610-96).(See Chapter 2 for an analysis of the verbal repetition between these two prayers). The third instance of repetition involves a single combat scene, involving first Renaut and Ogier in the episode at Vaucouleurs, and then Renaut and Roland. There is nothing extraordinary about the duplication of a scene of single combat in a 'chanson de geste'. It rnay even be argued that there is nothing extraordinary about verbal repetition between two scenes of " The symmetry is imperfect sincc the repetitions include variations: the reprating pattern may be a matrix of narrative movement with ri variable of situation, or an incident with a variable of chrtracter. Another repetition concerns the donning of a scarlet coat. These are the references which are made in the Vaucouleurs episode to the sciirlet coats by which the sons of Aymon arc betrayed: 'Boins manteaus d'escarlate lor afublera l'on' (v. 6 l74), 'S'aront Xi. manteaux d'escarlate afublez' (v. 6208), 'Les .iiii. manteaus roges vos a fet aporter' (v. 6352), 'Reals manteax d'escarlate qui sunt a chevalier' (v. 648 l), 'Ne mes celx as manteaux d'escarlate proisié' (v. 6600), 'Sor les mulz anbleors, as manteaux vermcillon' (v. 6879). A note of menace enters the poem when Maugis, prisoner of 29 combat since so rnuch bnttle description in the chansoits de geste is expressed in formulaic language. However, in this particular case the repetition of an unusual detail which occurs in each of these encounters distinguishes the two single combats as a pair. In both single combat scenes the wamors' horses participate actively in the fighting. 1 shall look at this repetition in a little more detail since it belongs to a second narrative, to which 1 retum below. In the first encounter, while Ogier and Renaut are fighting, their horses start to attack each other. Ogier, fnghtened foi his beast, wants to strike Renaut's horse Bayart. Renaut intervenes, telling Ogier that his quarrel is with him, not his horse. In the second encounter. when Renaut is fighting Roland, Bayart (Renaut's horse) ki l ls Roland's horse because i t stumbled causing Roland to fall. Roland, seeing the murderous deed wants to kill Bayart, but is prevented from doing so by Renaut. The parallelism of the content of these encounters is emphasized by verbal repetition. The following table gives the repeating verses of each combat scene. Single Combat A: Renaut v. Oirier (laisse 1671 Single Combat B: Renaut v. Roland (laisse 179) Quant Ogier l'a veu,a poi n'est esragiez (v.7845) Quant Rollant l'a veu, a poi d'ire ne desve (v.8725) Et Renaut li escrie: « Que veus tu faire, Ogier? Et Renaut li 3 dit: « Qu'est ce que tu veuz fere? (v.7848) (v.8727) Se vos volez bataille-a moi Ia comrnenciez!>~ Se vos volez blitriille,a moi Iri venez querre! (v.7850) ~(v.8729) Que les flors et les pieres en fait jus trebuchier. Que les flors et les pierres en abati a terre. (v.8732) (v.7852) Quant Rollrint I'entendi, a poi que il ne desve. Quant Ogier I'entendi, a poi n'est esragiez (v.7858) (v.8740) The encounters between Renaut and Ogier in the one episode and Renaut and Roland in the other, a juxtaposition which occurs as a result of the verbal and thematic repetition, set up a comparison of Ogier and Roland, whose characterological identities serve as the variables in the repetition. After Ogier has regretted his involvement in the beirayal of his kinsmen at Vaucouleurs, he draws a comparison between hirnself and Roland, and it is just such a Oliver, is dressed in a scarlet coat before being brought to Charlemagne in the hanging episode: 'D'un msntel d'escarlate fu Maugis afublez.' (v. 10214). 30 cornparison which is anticipated in the structure of the text through this juxtaposition of two scenes of single combat. Ogier is a kinsman of Renaut and one of the twelve peers. Roland, Charlemagne's nephew and one of his twelve peers, has no blood connection with Renaut. While Roland can engage in Charlemagne's war against Renaut with a clear conscience, Ogier is tom between loyalty to his kinsmen and obedience to his king.50As if to emphüsise Ogier's compromised position, throughout the episode at Vaucouleurs there is persistent reference to the lineage of Renaut and his brothers, to which Ogier belongs. At vv. 6962-5 (laisse 16 l), Aalart, believing that Renaut is leading them to Vaucouleurs in the knowledge that they are to be betrayed, reminds his brother that their ancestors are not a treacherous people, and at vv. 7026-9 (laisse 161) Aalart musters courage to fight by remembering his f~refathen.~' Ogier's blood relationship with Renaut is particularly emphasised üt two points in the poem. When Maugis arrives to rescue Renaut and his brothers, he reproaches Ogier because he did not help Renaut and he rerninds him of his lineage: Vos fustes del lignage Girrirt de Rosillon Et Doon de Nantuil et Bueve dlAygremont, Onques vostre lignage ne pensa traison! (laisse 166, vv. 7720-3) " A particularly poignant expression of Ogier's dilemma occurs at the beginning of the Vaucouleurs episodr: Hé! Dieux, dist le Danois, pres nos aprtrtenon, Mes trop sui redevant I'empereor Kalton. Que ne lor puis aider vaillant .i. esperon, Donc je sui si dolent a poi d'ire ne font. (vv. 7390-3) " Por Deu, sire Renaut, donc vint la traison? Ja fumes nos nevo Girart del Rossilion, Et Doon de Nrinteuil et Buevon d'Aygremont: Unques nostre lignage ne pensa traison. (vv. 6962-5) Ja somes nos nevoz Girrtrt de Rossillon Et Doon de Nantuil et Buevon d'Aygrernont: Unques nostre lignage ne fist jor se bien non Dehet ait qui fuira tant corn vivre porron! (vv. 7026-9) 3 1 Accused by Roland in front of Charlemagne for calling Maugis to the aid of his kinsmen at Vaucouleurs. Ogier defends himself against the charge of treason, and defiantl y claims his kinship with Renaut as grounds for his actions: Rois, vez ici mon page a conbatre vers Ii, Que je ne sui traïtre ne que onques ne1 fui, Ainz sui del miez de France et del miez del pais Girart de Rosillon, mon oncle, me norri; Et Doon de Nantuil qui tant fu seingnori, Et Bueves d'Aygremont O le gernon flori. II furent tuit mi oncle; que vos rendirent il? Vivien d'Aygremont fu mon germain cosin, Si est de mon Iingnage I'archevesque Torpin, Richart de Normendie qui tant est seignori, Renaut le til Aymon, Aalart autresi. Rollant, ou est le vostre? Faites le nos oïr (laisse 170, vv. 8002-1 1) Ogier's litany of ancestors resonates with the preceding triple occurrence of references to the lineage (laisse 161: vv. 6962-5, vv. 7026-9, laisse 166: vv. 7720-3). He finishes his litany of ancestors wi th an ambiguous question to Roland. Ambigui ty resides in the pronoun 'le vostre' which coiild be the corollary of 'gage' in v. 8000, or 'lingnage' in v. 8008. 1s Ogier asking Roland for his 'gage'? This is unlikely because the verb associüted with the gage in verse 8000 is 'voir' and the verb associated with the pronoun in verse 801 1 is 'oïr'. Given the position of the question, which immediately succeeds Ogier's litany of ancestors, it is likely that Ogier is asking Roland to let the barons hear his 'lingnage'. Roland's angry reaction to Ogier's question supports this interpretation. Traditionally Roland is the illegi timate son of Charlemagne, the issue of an incestuous relationship. The ambiguity of the pronoun 'le' which could refer to Roland's 'gage' or to his lingnage' sharpens the acidity of Ogier's taunting since he provokes Roland in such a cunning way that the provocation is almost hidden. This creates the impression that when Roland loses his temper (v. 8014-15), he does so for no particular reason. Ogier highlights the bonds of kinship which he has betrayed while disengaging Roland from the kin which claims him by hinting at his iliegitimate, unnaturai 3 2 birth. The repetitive insistence on the line from which the four sons of Aymon are descended contrasts starkly with the implication that Roland, having been ousted from the line of descent through illegitimate birth. cannot recite a similar litany of ancestors. iii) Displacement Yr the episode of the hanging of Richart The second part of the macro-unit (L. 18 1-207), the episode of the hanging of Richart, is characterized by a poetics of displacement. Between laisse 18 1 and 207 occur three major displacements: 1) Richart replaces Renaut in the scene of single combat which is plünned in laisse 18 1; 2) Ripu, the hangman replaces Richart ai the gallows; 3) Maugis replaces Richart as Charlemagne's prisoner. These displacements occur in long laisses, linked to each other by the movement of displacement, at points of transition in the narrative. The displacement of Renaut by Richart in combat with Roland, which results in Richart's capture, is the event which enables the transition from the episode at Vaucouleurs to the episode of Richart's hanging. The displacement of Richart by Ripu at the gallows is the action which initiates the sequence of events which leads to the capture of Maugis, which concludes the episode? Each of these displacements involves Richart, who constantly moves in and oui of the centre of narrative action. Nothing ever happens to Richart, it is always threatening to happen, and at the crux of the action he is displaced by another character. Richart moves into the centre of narrative action by replacing Renaut and moves out of it again by a series of displacements which distance him from the action. One may wonder if this is a sardonic comment on the fate of the younger son and the instability of his social position, or if it is a structural device 52 The boundvies of the hanging episode are circumxribed by a duplication, since the kidnapping of Maugis during the course of a duel duplicates the initial kidnapping of Richart by Roland. employed by the poet to generate narrative. The displacement of Renaut by Richart in combat with Roland links this series of replacements to the discontinuous contrapuntal narrative of the Renaut / Roland encounter which also operates according to a poetics of displacement. iv) Displacenient and a discontinrious contrapuntal narrative In addition to the narrative recounting the events at Vaucouleurs and the incident of the hanging of Richart, a second discontinuous narrative, which spans both parts of the macro-unit, is elaborated through repetition and displacement. 1 refer to this narrative as a contrapuntal narrative, since although its constitutive elements belong primaril y to the principal narrative of the Vaucouleurs and hanging episodes, the series of single combats form a narrative in counterpoint to the principal narrative which highlights the issues of kinship and feudality that the macro-unit as a whole explores. The contrapuntal nmtive follows the story of a deferred single combat between Renaut and Roland, from laisse 176, to laisse 198. It consists of a series of six single combat scenes, associated with each other ihrough repetition and r process of displacement similar to the displacements discussed above. The six scenes of single combat which compose the units of the meta-narrative are: Renaut v. Ogier (L. 166- 167, vv. 7740-9 11) Renaut v. Roland (L. 176- 18 1, vv. 8488-784) Richart v. Roland (L. 18 1, vv. 883 1-70) Point of articulation between the episode rit Vaucouleurs and the incident of Richart's hanging53 Richart v. Charles (L. 196, vv. 9889-919) Renaut v. Charles (L. 196-197, vv. 9955-10060) Renaut v. Roland (L. 197-198, vv. 10068-80) I3 See above, pp. 32-3. 34 These scenes of single combat are spaced unevenly, with a significantly larger interval occurring between the first and the second combats (577 verses) and the third and fourth (1010 verses) than between the remaining combats spaced at 47,36 and 8 verses respectively. The second hiatus (between the third and fourth combats) indicates a suspension of al1 combat while some of the characters try to hang Richart, and others to rescue him. The hiatus between the first and the second encounters is part of the anomaly which distinguishes the shift between them from the linking of the other five combats. The single combat between Ogier and Renaut is tied in to the series by the verbal and thematic repetition associating it with the fint encounter between Renaut and Roland, rather than by a process of direct di~~lacement.~~However, since Renaut's single combat with Ogier comes to an unsatisfactory conc~usion~~,when Renaut takes up his next single combat, which is with Roland, the verbal and thematic repetition suggests that the Renaut v. Roland encounter is a continuation of the encounter between Renaut and Ogier, and that Renaut's frustrated anger is displaced from Ogier to Roland. The encounter between Ogier and Renaut, by setting Renaut in conflict wi th one of his kinsmen, is also anomalous in this senes because it distorts the mis of opposition which places kinsmen of Aymon opposite representatives of the monarchy. In the other five encounters, the displacements function as follows. Renaut and Roland fight until Renaut proposes that they stop and re-locate to an area where they will not run the nsk of others trying to prevent their encounter (vv. 8772-82). Renaut pauses to rescue King Yon, and in the interim, Richart steps into Renaut's position in combat with Roland. This leads to Richart's capture and thus to his hanging. The process of displacement resumes when 54 See section ii) Repetitions above for the verbal and thematic repetition linking the Renaut v. Ogier and Renaut v. Roland encounters, pp. 28-32. 5s The Renaut v. Ogier combat finishes when Ogier fin& himself on the opposite side of a river to Renaut. Richart, returning to Charlemagne's camp to show the concemed peers that he has not been hanged, becomes involved in combat with Charlemagne. He sounds Bondin, Renaut's hom, and his brothers corne to the rescue. Renaut then displaces Richart and fights with the king. The final displacement occurs in laisse 197 when Roland displaces Charlemagne in combat with Renaut. One of the effects of the displacement is that the conclusion of the encounter between Renaut and Roland appears to be endlessly deferred. The initial encounter between Renaut and Roland, anticipated in laisse 173, when Renaut decides to rescue King Yon (Roland's prisoner), occws in laisse 176 (vv. 8488), but they do not fight again until laisse 198? It is not only the process of displacement which defers the encounter between Renaut and Roland. There is active opposition to the encounter by the barons of both sides. In laisse 176 there is an accumulation of obstacles which delays the first encounter: Renaut's proposal of peace, Roland's con ference with Oliver, the refusal of the barons. the barons' insistence that they fight with lances and not with swords. In laisse 181, when Roland and Renaut plan to continue their duel, they are caught up in the general fighting and Roland's intended duel with Renaut is fought with Richart. When finally in laisse 198 Renaut and Roland pick up their fight where they had left off in laisse 176, the potential scene of single combat is curtailed when Aalart, Guischan and Richart join Renaut in attacking ~oland.'~ The position of the encounters between Renaut and Roland in the senes of single combats is significant, and contributes to an understanding of why the continuation of the first encounter is defened through the process of displacement discussed above. The first encounter follows the combat between Renaut and Ogier and the second follows the encounter between Renaut The Renaut v. Roland encounter is first anticipated in L. 173 (v. 8344: 'Quer se Rollant l'en maingne il sera vergondez'), and thereafter frequently: L. 175, vv. 8394-5, L. 176, vv. 8398-401, L. 176, vv. 8451-58. '' This combat is described in one verse: 'Estes les vos au chaple, ensenble sunt rneslez' (v. 10080). 36 and Charlemagne. In other words Roland displaces a kinsman and an overlord from a situation of conflict with Renaut. Roland acts as a buffer to the tensions between feudal loyalties and kinship. Roland is eminently suited to this role. Throughout the poem he adheres to a code of conduct which is prescribed by neither kinship nor feudal loyalty. This is demonstrated by considering the scene in which Charlemagne asks Roland to hang Richart for him. Charlemagne is his kin and his king, and yet Roland is prepared to refuse to hang Richart because he has pledged his faith to the prisoner that he will be safe: Sirc, cc dist Rollnnt, or rtvcz vos mcspris, Qucr jc plcvi ma foi Richart, quant il fu pris, Quc il n'i rivrct mal por home qui soit vis. Et SC jc ment ma foi, donc soie jc honnis! (Iaissc 189, vv. 9322-25) It is more important to Roland to remain loyal to his word than to please and obey his kinsman and king. Roland operates as an individual, remaining true to his honour in a world in which others vacillate between divided loyalties. By deferring the encounter between Roland and Renaut, the poet of Renciiit de Moritu~tbrin draws attention to it, and the issues which it highlights. Since the encounters between Roland and Renaut displace other encounters in whiçh Renaut's conflict with a kinsman and an overlord are drarnatised, the encounter between Roland and Renaut becomes the symbolic and actual locus for the resolution of tensions between loyalties to kin and king. The conflict inherent in the Renaut v. Roland encounter itself is always deflected or attenuated by means of tmncation of the encounter or imposition of controls which lirnit the danger to which the combatants are e~~osed.~~The contrapuntal narrative elaborated through repetition and '' In laisse 176, for example. Roland's men insist that the duel be fought with lances and not with swords so that there be no chance that Renaut might be killed by Roland to his shame. 37 displacement which stretches across the episodes of the arnbush at Vaucouleurs is a narrative of deferred and truncated combat. V) Conclusion The implications of a discontinuous macro-unit rernain to be explored, perhaps through analogy to disjunctive echo,'' since in both cases the reader I listener must associûte non- contiguous segments (see Chapter 2 for a treatment of repetition). The macro-unit of Renoiit is structured by a concentration of long laisses relating the narrative, short laisses relating subnarratives, repetitions establishing symmetry between the episodes, a poetics of displacement linking the discontinuous segments and the combat between Renaut and Roland which acts as a contrapuntal narrative. b) The Micro Unit The division of the laisses into units smaller than the laisse has produced such critical terms as 'laisses composites', 'épisodes annexes', and 'compression'. Rychner's composite laisses consist of several narrative segments, which may be marked by explicit transition^.^' He singles out the Couronnement de Loiiis, the Charroi de Nîmv and the Monicige Guillaume as poerns with a high incidence of composite aiss ses.^' According to Rychner, the composite laisse is a debased fom of the Oxford Rolarid's laisses which match laisse with narrative incident. Following Rychner, Jean Subrenat, in his discussion of laisses in 59 On disjunctive echo, see Heinemann, 'On the Metric Anistry of the Chanson de geste', OIijÜnr 16:1-2, (1991). 5-59, pp. 33-40, and L'Art métriqre, pp. 38-9. La Chanson de Geste, pp. 1 10-7. '' ibid. p. 1 10. 38 Gaydon which contain two or more narrative elements, regrets the poet's neglect of the 'rigueur strophique proposée comme idéale. Others have been less derogatory about poems which use the composite laisse, understanding it as a different kind of laisse with particular characteristics, or as historical development. Studies of individual poems and laisses have demonstrated the artistic properties of the subdivision of the epic laisse.h3 Margaret Rossi recognises differences in the subdivision of laisses in Hiion de Borrleaw, some of which 'conservent une certaine unité parce que leur sujet est unique. mais se décomposent en plusieurs éléments narratifs étroitement liés' and others whicli comprise events deviating from the main narrative thread, ipisodes cinnexes, inserted into the laisses between frarning transition form~lae.~ Compression is the tenn whicli Catherine Jones uses to describe the phenornenon of subdivision of laisses in Hervis de Mes by iritenlal iritonntions and intrnstrophic pnrcillelisrn which in earlier works articulate interstrophic divisions.65 As an exarnple 1 analyse below laisse 27 of Elir de Saint Gille which is a particularly strongly marked example of sub-laisse division. " 'Mais il y a encore ici plus grave. Notre poète va jusqu'h la [l'unité strophique] nier totalement cn unissant dans la même laisse des dléments sans rapport entre eux.' Étde ssu 'Gaydon ', p. 105. See pp. 104-7 for Subrenat's discussion of the composite laisses of Gayion. 63 hdesur 'Gqvdo~i'pp. 104-7; E. A. Heinemann, 'Some Reflections on the Laisse and on Echo' (sre especially p. 43, where Heinemann looks at laisse 60 of the Prise); ' "Composite Laisse" and Echo'; Barbara Schurfranz, 'Strophic Structure versus Alternative Divisions in the Prise d'orange', Romance Philology 33 (1979), 247-64. " Htron de Bordeairx. pp. 138-44, citation, p. 138. 65 The Noble Merchant, pp. 105-10. The micro-units of laisse 27 in Elie de S'dint il le^^ Laisse 27 of Elie de Suint Gille illustrates the division of the laisse into units smaller than the laisse, and the laisse itself as a unit. The one hundred and twenty-one verses of this laisse relate Elie's escape from a Saracen ship where he is being held prisoner by the pagan ~acabré."Ten repetitions describing a character's reaction to a preceding action divide the laisse into eleven micro units. Each statement of reaction introduces a new development in the escape narrative. The following table presents the repetitions which mark the micro-units and the narrative content of each. The underlining indicates verbal repetition. vv. 883-890 Description of the scri journcy in thc srirac.cn ship. VV. 89 1 -904 Macabré l'amiral ne s'aseura mie Devant lui fait venir no Franpis a delivre (vv. 89 1-2) Macabre makcs rnovcs to kill the prisoncrs. Josias of IrcIand intcrvcncs. VV. 905-923 Macabré l'amiral ne s'aseura mie Devant lui fait venir iMahomet et ses ideles (vv. 905-6) Macabrd has Mahomct brought bcforc him. All the pagans worship thc god and Macabre asks Elic if hc has cvcr sçcn such a bcauiiliil god. VV.924-937 Ouant Elies l'entent, ne peut muer n'en rie: (v. 924) EIic rnocks the god and Macabr6. VV. 938-945 Ouant I'amiraus l'entent, a ~oin'esrape d'ire II vint a Mahomet, se li pris a dire (vv. 938-9) Macabré promiscs his god that hc will rivcngc him. VV.946-954 Quant I'entendi Elies, n'a talent qu'il en ne Dameldé reclama. le ficus sainte Marie (vv. 946-7) Elie, praying to his God, noticcs Malpriant with ~hcprize war horsc. vv. 955-974 Quant Elics le voit, a poi n'esrare d'ire; Dameldé reclama. le ficus sainte Marie (vv. 955-6) Elie enunciates a prayer, kills Malpriani, takes the horse and cscapcs, insulting thc pagans. - - - VV. 975-98 1 Quant I'amiraus l'entent. a poi n'esraee d'ire; II vient a Mahomet. se li a pris a dire:(vv. 975-6) Macabré implores his god to stop Elie and threatens him with violcncc if hc does not. VV.982-989 Quant che voit Macabrés c'adès s'en vait Elye, II vient a Mahomet. se li a pris a dire:(vv. 982-3) Macabré secing that Elie is escaping carries out his threat, destroying his god. VV. 990-995 Ouant Sarrasin le voient. a poi n'esralient d'ire; Vienent a Macabré. se li ont pris a dire: (vv. 990- 1 ) The Saracens, seeing that Macabré has destroyed their god, threaten Macabré with violence. VV. 996- 1003 Ouant I'amiraus l'entent, durement s'umelie; Il vient a Mahomet, .c. fois merchi li crie(vv. 996-7) Macabré repents of his action and promises to rnake reparation to the god. 66 ed. Gaston Rriynaud (Paris: Société des anciens textes français, 1879) '' Laisse 27 is one of four laisses of the poem which is over one hundred verses long. The other laisses which are over one hundred verses long are: L. 5 (107 v.), L. 29 ( 1 13 v.) and L. 68 (4 18 v.). There is a high degree of verbal repetition in this series in addition to the repetition of statement of reaction. The first two descriptions of reaction (vv. 891-2, vv. 905-6) are almost identical, with the difference residing in the object of the verb: the French prisoners in the first instance, and Mahomet and the idols in the second. The following eight statements of reaction are constructed on the following model: First hemistich Second hemistich Quant + name / title + verb of preception + reaction voir / entendre with the exception of verse 982 which varies the pattem slightly so that the second hemistich relates the object of the character's perception (v. 982). In nine of the ten cases, the series of verses indicating chancter reaction are followed by verses which are also repetitive (vv. 892, 906,939,947,956,976,983,991,997). Laisse 27 is organised as a chain of reactions which is articulated by formulae of character reaction. The pattem of narrative progression in micro units which develop each incident from a character's reaction to a preceding incident can also be seen in three otlier repetitions within the laisse: Elie prefigures Macabré's threatening and his destruction of the god Mahomet, and Macabré's threat to Mahomet prefigures the Saracens' threat to Macabré. 1 shall present each of the three repetitions in tum. When Macabré asks Elie if ever he has seen such a beautiful god, Elie mocks the god and says that if he had the god at Saint Gille, he would break its nose and ears: Que I'eüsse en Provenche ens el mostier Saint Gille 11 avroit ja brisiet le nés et les orilles (vv. 932-3) 41 Subsequently, Macabré, aiigry that Elie is escaping, threatens the id01 in tems which repeat Elie's words: Sc ne1 fais aresier, n'as conscl dc ta vie: Je t 'ornija brisiet le nés et les orilles. (W. 980-8 1 ) Elie's hypothetical violence to the god is recalled a second time through verbal repetition when Macabré promises to repair his god whom he has destroyed. Jc vous donrrii .m. mars, mes que je vicng[c] a vilc, Dorit je voris refercri le nés et les orilles. (vv. 1001-2) The second repetition concems the destruction of Mahomet which is presented in terms which recall Elie's attack on Malpriant to gain possession of his horse: Elic's Aitack on Malpriant (vv. 963-5) Macabri's Atiack on Mahomct (W. 986-8) II ficrt si le paicn, qui Ic tient 16s I'oiç, 11 haucc Ic poing dcstre, si Iç ticrt ISs I'oic, Quc la char li blccliri ct Ics os li dcbrisse; Qu'il l'a mout mal mené et trcstout Ic dcbrisc, Devtrrlt hi I'nhnt mort. en le rief le sovine Devtrrrt hi l'nbciti, eri Itl ricf le sovine. The final verses of both descriptions are identical, verse 963 is a full-verse expansion of the second hemistich of verse 986, and verses 964 and 987 both relate the result of the blow with a Qrre structure. The implication of these verbal repetitions is that Elie provides the pattern for the destruction of the Saracen god, both hypotheticaily through his description of what he would do to the god, were it to faIl into his hands, and through the violence which he wreaks on the pagan Malpriani. Through the verbal repetition, the violent act is displaced from Macabré's io Elie's agency, with the result that the Christian Elie, not the Saracen Macabré, combats the Saracen god. The third repetition associates Macabré's threatened violence to Elie and to Mahomet with the Saracens' threat to Macabré after he has destroyed their god. Macabré addresses his god on 42 four separate occasions: to promise revenge, to ask for help, to express his anger, and to make amends. Each of Macabré's addresses to his god are given below: 1. Macabré promises to avenge (vv. 940-5) 2. Macabré asks for help (vv. 977-8 1 1 Genrieris dieus de boin aire, ne vorrs en poist il mie Gentieus dieiis deboimires, entent que jc voil dire DoIr François nrgelloris qui si volts conrralie? Dorc François orgellulis qiri rmt le contrtrlie; Tcnés, la moie foi vous sera ja plcvie, Fai Ic moi arcstcr la devant a tel rive. J'cn prendra la vcnganchc mès que jc vicge rt vile. Se nelfi~isnrester, n'as corlsel rie rn vie: Paicn, drechiks Ics forces, Mahomet vous maldic! Je t'artri jn brisiet le nis et les orilles Ja mora li François, ri 'ert consnus de sa vie. 3. Macabré cxprcsscs his anecr (vv. 984-5) 4. Macabré makcs amcnds (vv. 998- 100 1 1 Cerlrierrs dierts deboirruire, or ai ma foi rncntic, Geritieiis dieus debaimire, rie vous ert poi.sr il mie: Car ii François s'en va, jc nc I'ataindrai mic. Certes, que j'erc plains et dc corous ct d'irc. Te&, je vous donrai .m. mars, mCs que jc vieng[cI a vile, Donr je volts referui le nLs et les orilles When the Saracens threaten Macabré, elements of his addresses to Mahomet recur: Cûitis rois orgcllous, por coi nous contralie[s] Qui si bas nostrc dicu ct confons ct justichc[s]'? Se rrr rie l'en fuis droit, ri 'ert consuus de ru vie: Tu t'en veras contrais ains l'curc dc complic. (vv. 992-5) The Saracens address Macabré as 'Caitis rois orgellous', a rhythmic repetition of Macabré's address 'Gentieus dieus deboinaire' to his god. Both addresses fil1 the first hemistich of the laisse, and in both cases the first adjective consists of two syllables, the noun of one syllable and the second adjective of three syllables. In verse 993 the Suacens threaten Macabré in terms which again recall elements of Macabré's addresses to the god. The first hemistich of verse 994 resembles Macabré's threat to his god in verse 980, and the second hemistich recalls the second hemistichs of verses 945 and 980. The threat to Macabré is made in terms of Macabré's own threats to Elie and to Mahomet. The implication is that the Saracens will destroy Macabré as he has destroyed the god. Laisse 27 would appear to be a humorous debunking of Macabré, the Saracens and their dedication to an id01 in the context of a Christian / Saracen stmggle. However, a further repetition, which questions the efficacy of Elie's god undermines any assumption that a Christian God is being held superior to the Saracen idol. Elie prays: Dameldé reclama, Ic ficus sainte Marie, Qu'il garissc son cors cl'afoler et d'ocllire; (vv. 947-8) and his prayer is followed immediately by a nurator's warning: Ançois que il soit vcsprcs nc soncc complie Ara paor dc mort, d'afoler et d'ocliire. (vv. 949-50) which indicates little faith that the prayer will be answered. If Macabré's god is mocked and made the object of the characters' and pet's humour, then Elie's God is not presented as a viable, or better al temat ive." The sequence of micro-units ordering the narrative of laisse 27 as a chain of reactions is consistent with the other repeti tions within the laisse which present character action as re-action to precrding events. The repetition of ten verses which describe character reaction and divide the laisse into eleven micro-units involves language which may be considered as epic cliché. However, "This is in agrccmcni with thc porirayal of rclationships betwccn characters and the Christian Cod in thc resi of the pocm. Whcn Elic, after his cscapc from the ship, and a rough night, prays to be givcn somc food, hc cncountcrs a band of thieves: Dameldieu, fist il, pere, qui me fcsistcs né, Jc nc mangai de pain bien ri .iii. jors passé, Puis a je tant maint cop recheu et donC: Vous me donés hui home qui mc doinst a disner. A iceste parolle a gardé en .i. pré, Et vit .iiii. larons sous .i. arbre aresté[s] (vv. 1049-54) A band of thieves is not an obvious response to a prayer by a hungry man, and particularly so when the ihieves attack him after he has caten. Other examples of this less than optimistic attitude towards the Christian God are: a) When Elie first enters Rosamonde's tower and is curcd by hcr through the agency of a miraculous hcrb, he States that he has found paradise (v. 1455). The irony of a Christian soldier discovering paradise in a Saracen citadel is clear. This claim that Rosamonde's tower is paradise is repeated at v. 2450. b) At the end of the poem when the audience expects that Elie will marry Rosamonde, he is prevented from so doing by the letter of his religion's law, since he has participated in her baptism (vv. 2675-9). It is highly ironie that Rosamonde who has converted to the Christian faith so ihat she might marry Elie, is denied her husband by this very same religion. C) It is not unusual for a chanson de geste to count a pilgrimage among its closing incidents. The pilgrimage undertaken at the end of Elie de Saint Gille, however, is ridiculously short. The pilgrims arrive ai the sepulchre, adore it, and depart in the space of three verses: Qu'il sont tout al sepucre venu et arivé; Et quant il furent la, si l'ont aor(n)é. Quant ont fait lor offrande, si sont tout retornd (vv. 2736-8). 44 whether we attribute the repetitions to lack of poetic creativity, formulaic construction, or wish to see a high poetic design in this laisse, the repetitions undoubtedly divide the laisse into micro-uni ts. C) Conclusion This chapter has looked at the division of the chansons de geste into micro-units, which can be a few verses long, and macro-units, which can be as long as a whole poem.69Common to al1 units, whether disiinguished by addresses to the audience, formulae of transition. long laisses, or descriptions of the reactions of characters (laisse 27 of Elie de Saint Gille) is their collation on the part of the receiving audience. The process of collation functions at various levels, ranging from the simple stringing together of séances, or the threads of a basic interlaced narrative which employs interepisodic altemation, to the more complex collation of the disparate parts of a discontinuous macro-unit. Each of these collating processes involves recognition of the repetitions which define the units, and thus the audience's mernory. The following chapter presents units of repeated text and the effects of their collation. " See above, p. 22. Chapter 2 Repetition In chapter 1 we saw repetitions dividing segments of the text into units both larger and smaller than the laisse. Now we tum Our attention to repeated segments of text as units in themselves, disjunctive echoes in Heinemann's terrninology.' When a passage of texi repeats, it recalls to audience memory the original appearance of the passage. This evokes a response of collation and cornparison of the parts of the repetition, which emphasises subtle differences of context and expression, from which emerge complex effects, ranging, for example, from psychological comrnentary (Ami et Amile) to depiction of emotion (Renaut de Montauban), and character developmcnt (Raoul de Cambrai). The process of recognition of repetition and collation on the part of the audience is reflected by characters of the Oxford Roland and Renaut de Montairban who are not only aware of verbal repetition, but manipulate it for effect. a) Ami et Amile The situational and verbal repetition which identifies laisses 30 and 100 of Ami et Amile as a pair sets up a process of comparison which focuses attention on Lubias' jealousy of the companionship between Ami, her husband, and Amile, and her attempts to dissolve their friendship. The first part of both laisses describes Ami in bed with his wife Lubias. The repetition ' Disjunctive echoes consist of 'des blocs distincts les uns des aubes et qui renvoient les uns aux autres', L'An niétrique, p. 224. See Heinemann, 'On the Metric Artistry of the Chanson de geste', pp. 33-40. Disjunctive echo is one of many kinds of repetition (verbal, thematic, and metric) in the chanson de geste. For a definition of the different kinds of verbal echo, see L'Art métrique, pp. 37-40. between the two laisses consists of both exact verbal repetition and paraphrastic repetition.' Following sex. Lubias addresses her husband to accuse Arnile: in the first instance. of making advances to her, and in the second, of killing Hardré by treachery. In laisse 30, Ami replies, swearing to confront Amile the following moming, but in laisse 100, Ami remains silent. while Lubias, echoing his words from laisse 30, swears to throw Amile into prison the following rnoming. Here are the two laisses with the repetitions highlighted in italics. Laisse 30: (vv. 498-5 121 Laisse 100: (vv. 2003-22) Le soir se jut li dus léz sa moillier. Li mens Amis s'en est aléz couchier, Quant gabé orent et asséz delitié, Dejouste lui Lubias sa moillier. La male fume l'en prinst n arraisnier: Quant gabé ont assét et de litit! «Sire, dist elle, moltlr ni 'en piis rnenleillier Et tout ont fait quantque an lit afiert, Dou conte Amile, vostre compaingnon chier. La male damme l'en prinst a arraisnier: Moult se repant quant ne m'ot a moillier; Within these two laisses which ostensibly depict the bedroom scenes of one couple, there are three couples: Ami and Lubias as a rnarried couple, Lubias and Amile as an imagined couple and Ami and Amile as a couple of male companions. Lubias and Amile are a thwarted couple 4 since, on the grounds that Ami is more deserving (vv. 477-8), Amile rejects Lubias at the start of the poem when she is offered in marriage to him by ~ardré.~The couple of Ami and Amile ' See Paula Leverage, 'Identité variable: quand la répétition ne se répète pas,' in Actes du XiV Congrès International de la Société Rencesvals, .Vaples, 1997 (forthcoming). 3 A second rejection occurs when Amile, taking Ami's place in the conjugal bed, while he is fighting a judicial duel en lieu of Amile, places a sword between Lubias and himself (vv. 1 159-64). although, at the time, Lubias believes that she is being rejected by her husband (see vv. 1986-92 where Lubias refers to the incident). is based on their similarity, which is ernphasised throughout most of the poern.4 The combination of rejection by Amile, and jealousy of the male couple motivates Lubias to dishonour Amile in Ami's eyes. Between laisses 30 and LOO, Lubias tries to reconfigure her couple status with Ami by destroying her husband's friendship with Amile and stepping into the vacated position. She does this not only by attacking Amile directly through her two accusations, but by mimicking Amile's identity with Ami through repetition of his words. In laisse 100, when Ami does not reply, as he had in laisse 30, Lubias appropriates both his discourse position and his words (vv. 2018- 19). Unsuccessful in her attempts to destroy the male couple by accusing Amile, she insinuates herself verbally into the couple.' Significantly this happens just prior to Ami's leprosy, thus when his identity with Amile is most threatened." The collation of the two units of verbai repetition in laisses 30 and 100 creates a psychological comrnentary, revealing Lubias' strategy of identification with Ami and highlighting her anxieties, not voiced explicitly in the text, which go beyond taking revenge for Amile's rejection to complex issues of jealousy of the male couple, and of their rnutual identity. b) Renaut de Montauban One of several disjunctive echoes which operate between the Vaucouleurs and hanging episodes involves two prayers, the first by Renaut as he rides out to Vaucouleurs with his brothers, and the second by Richart as he is waiting to be rescued from the hanpan? h 4 Ami and Arnile were conceived, born and baptised on the same dûy (vv. 13- 14, vv. 22-5). Physically they are identical (vv. 1959-6 1)and they appear to have a telepathic connection (vv. 859-65). * Lubis' attacks on Amile, who has rejected her, is also a project of self-affirmation. as the final verse of laisse 100, Damme sui de la ville, suggests. Laisse 103, vv. 2058-66. 7 For repetitions which emphsise the two-part structure of the discontinuous macro-unit in Renaut. see Chapter 1 :3:ii. 4 8 addition to repetition of the situation, and the contents of the prayers, there is verbal repetition, mostly paraphrastic. The amplification. the location of much of the verbal repetition at the beginning of Richart's prayer, the omissions and additions, the order of presentation of the biblical references, al1 contribute to a portrait of an increasingly anxious man waiting at the gallows. The following reproduction highlights the verbal repetition between the prayers in bold typeface. bissc 161. vv. bR1 1-37 hisse 196. vv. 9fiOR-700 De hoen cuer et verai commence une oroison: De bonc cucr et de fin commence une oroison, 'Gloriox sire Pm, par ton sûintismc non. Ainz n'oistes si bone en dit ne cn scnnon: Qui formastes le monde a droit et a raison, 9610 'Ha! dcx. ce dist Richm. qui formas tot Ic mont. Et fcïstes la terre sor le marbrin perron, Et alasrcs par [cmen guise dc povri? hon. 68 15 Si la sostient abism, la diverse maison: Et ganntis Jonas cl ventre del poisson, Bel Sire, si feïstrs eve dolce et poison, Eve douce fcïstes et salee selonc. En terre convcrsastcs si corne chmelx hom, Bhu Sirc, en Bctanie suscitas Lozaron, Marie Magdalcine feïstes le pardon, 96 15 Saint Daniel garis en la fosse au lion. Vcrs est que suscitastes de mort seint Lamron, Et saint Pierre et soint Pol, endui li compagnon, 6820 El Daniel sauvastes en la fosse au lion; Quant en la mr estoient peschmr a poison, Andui Pierres et Pol estoient conpnignon Ilec les convertis par bone entention, Que en la mer salee pcschocnt nu poisson, Et scs rneffb, biau Sirc. pudonas au luron. lluec les convertis par bone entencion; 9670 Quant en croiz vos pendirent li mal Juïf felon. Juda le mal traïtre vos vendt u bnndon, Moric Madalaine feïstcs le pardon, 6825 Trente deniers en out, ci out grant mesprison; Qui avoit mis ses iauz sor voz piez a bandon: Bel Sirc. en scintc croiz soufristes passion. Uec plon la dame par bone cntcntion. Et Longis vos feri de la lnncc a bandon, Dr: ses lermes lava voz pirz tot environ. ii n'avait on vcü, que de voir Ir set on: 9625 Puis ten a ses chevex pur bonc entcntion. Li sans li vint colant par la lance a bandon, Vos l'en Icv;istes. Sire. mont par le menton. 6830 11 en trait par ses eu% lors out alumoison; Judas qui vos traï en ot grant marison Sirc, au jor de la Pquecüs surrection, Et dist: Osiez tel lm. plaine es: de triiison. Et montastes el ciel au jor d'Acension, Quel n'est pas bone chosc. de vend le savon. Et revendras P nos, issi corn nos creon; 9630 Et vos Ii respondistcs par mult kir raison: Einsi corn ce csr voirs et que bicn le savon. Or vos taisiez, Judas. que il m'est bel ct bon, 6835 Si garis hui mon cors de mort et de prison, Et sachiez bicn de voir. SMZ nulc soupcçon. Et mes frcrcs tuit .iii.que bocn chcvdicr sunr: Qu'clc en avm encorr mult gentil guerredon: Jc nc srii ou les mûine. mes en gant peril vont. hssus amont el ciel ovn salvation. 9635 Quant Judas l'rntendi. ne dist ne O ne non. Puis ot de scs pechiez Marie vrai pardon. Por cc qu'elc ot au cucr bone repentoison. Mer et terre feistcs a vosm clection. ks.iiii. vcnz fcïsta en Sirpar contençon. 9640 Et encor en auive chacun en sa saison. Et de la rncr sdct les closis environ. Des, N feïs Adan son compaignon. Et le fruit dc voz ybm li mcïs a bandon, Ne mes d'un sol pomicr li dcvw le don. 9645 Et il en menja puis, ne li fist se mal non; Encoi en ont si oir encore rcirrison. Si voinmcnt, biw Si=, com li CUVCR felon Vos pendirent en croiz por nostrc mnçon. Longis li nonvoianz va(cri a bandon 9650 Si que li sant et I'cve li sailli jusqu'asi poins II en tert a ses buz si ot ralumobon, Lors vos cria merci et iI ot vni pardon. Sirc. Noé fisi l'arche par vo commimdoison. De totcs bestes mues i mist .ii,.cc savon, 9655 Por rcstorer la penc et recovrrr le don. En Josafas. biriu Sire. menas tes compaignon, Andui Pierres et Pol et tes autres prodon, Et tmtoz les apostrcs repeiis icel jor De .v. painz de fin orge, et si ot .ii. poisons; 9660 .v.m. gent en orent icel jor Iivroison. Et saint Andrieu dist lors entre li ct Simon: Sire, funt il a ku,avron nos garison Dont nos tmtot cest puep!e mrisier poisson? Vos lor en avez. Sirc. trovee grmt foison: 9665 Ne le savoit a dire nc prestres ne clerçon. Droit en enfer alutes smz nulc anstoison. A trestoz tcs amis feïs delivroison. Et luit i descendoient smz nulc reançon. Sa amenastes. Sire. par gmtdevocion. 9670 Ne msquc une dame qui dist unc nison: Haï! enfer. dist ele. corn vos rcmanez ~017~ Noirs. hisdoz et obscurs et lait et tcnebrox! A l'entrer de la porte. si corn lisant trovon. fusqu'au tcrme i scn que jugeroiz le mont. 9675 Adonc envoieroiz Ics .vii. tomnz panot. Que totc udrri la lem.xx. toises en parfont. Et tuit cil qui sont mon. Sire revivcront, Et tuit li csrnanchiti lor .ii. mains porteront. Cii qui ne voient pas avront alumoison, 9680 Li mesel seront sain de cors et de façon: Et Damdeu verront rn la cmiz conircmont, Et es piez et es paumes li clou fem scront, Et navd de 13 lance rnz el costé selonc. El la soc: comnc desor son chief amont, 9685 Qui d'csgldntirr fu faire ct de poingnant botons. Totes voz plces. Sire. Ic jor escrcvcront. Et si lor mostemiz la vosirr: passion; Vos diroiz: belc gcnr icc soffri por vos; Et ou sont or li bien quc avez fet por nos? 9690 Li angrc et Ii ~irchmgretrembleront devant vos: Lors sera cil mult liez qui avn vostre amor. Sire Sains Espcriiz, issi corn nos creons Que iceste pricrr puct gmntir prcudon. Si garis hui mon cors de mort et de prison. 9695 Chasiiau de Montauban, a Dcu vos commandon. Ne Guichvt Ic vaillant. ne Adan le blont! Hlf! las. or m'a tnï Amaugis li Imns! Ripuz. fai ce que vrls; a kunos commandon Since Renaut's prayer precedes Richart's, it is present in the background of Richart's prayer as a point of cornparison to readers / listeners who recognise the repetition. When Richart starts his prayer, his anxiety is reflected in the shortened address and reference to the creation (one hemistich each) which in Renaut's prayer occupy two verses. This abbreviation is soon replaced by amplification as Richart seems to redise that Iengthening his prayer buys time in which his brothers might rescue him. He amplifies his prayer by lengthening references to individual evenrs (most of Renaut's references are one verse long). introducing new events (Jonas and the whale, the two thieves at the Cross, Adam and Eve, Noah, the Descent to Hell) and repeating events already mentioned: for example he makes three references to the Creation. as if he wished to start again to gain time. The following synopsis of both prayers illustrates the variations in order, length of treatrnent of each biblical event. and omissions and additions. Renaut's Order of Praver Richart's Ordcr of Pra~er 1. Address to God ( 1 v.) 1. Address to God (1 hemistich) 2. Creation (4 v.) 2. Creation (1 hemistich) 3. Incarnation (1 v.) 3. Incarnarion (1 v.) 4. Mary Magdalene (1 v.) Jonas and the whale (1 v.) 2. Creation (1 v.) 5. Raising of Lazarus (1 v.) 5. Raising of Lazarus (I v.) 6. Daniel's rescue from the lions ( 1 v.) 6. Daniel's rescue from the lions (1 v.) 7. Petcr and Paul (3 v.) 7. Peter and Paul (3 v.) Two thieves at the Cross (2 v.) 8. Judas' treachery (2 v) 4. -t 8 Mary Magdalene and Judas (17 v.) 9. Longinus and the lance (5 v.) 2. Creation (4 v.) Adam and Eve (5 v.) 9. Longinus (6 v.) Noah (3 v.) 7. Peter and Paul and the Five loaves and two fish (1 0 v.1 Dcscent into Hcll (9 v.) 10. Resurrection ( 1 v.) 11. Ascension (1 v.) 12. Lst Judgement ( 1 v.) 12. Last Judgement (17 v.) 13. Concluding prayer (4 v.) 13. Concluding prayer (7 v.) The concentration of verbal repetition of Renaut's prayer at the beginning of Richart's, suggests that Richart's prayer is modelled on Renaut's until he becomes aware of the consequences of concluding, and starts to ampli@ it. Richart's amplification is significant, since it is a delaying strategy, but also because the additions and repetitions emphasise events which parallel Richart's situation. For exarnple, Richart refers to Christ's Passion three times (vv. 9619-20, vv. 9648-5 1, W. 9682-go), as if to emphasise that the death of Christ on the Cross is the most appropriate part of divine history to a man awaiting death at the gallows. At the end of his prayer, Richart gives an extended account of Christ's descent into Hel1 and the Last ludgement, focusing on negative aspects of Christian eschatology, whereas Renaut's conclusion, which refers to the Resurrection and Ascension, and obliquely to the Last Judgement by evoking Christ's return, is decidedly more positive. The order of presentation of biblical events in Richart's prayer also reflects his fear. With the exception of the Daniel story (which should follow the Creation), Renaut makes his references in a credible order? Richut's prayer, on the other hand, is blatantly a confùsed presentation of the order of biblical history, since he, concerned only to continue his prayer, moves freely from Old to New Testament. In addition to the effects of the amplification, and repetition. Richart's prayer is underscored by two ironies which emeqe from its cornparison with Renaut's prayer: Richart prays for salvation in the knowledge that Renaut, prior to Vaucouleurs, prayed for salvation which wûs not forthcoming, and there is the further irony that Renaut's concem when he prayed was that his brothers should remain together safely, and Richart at the moment of his prayer is isolated from his brothers. The collation of the two units of repetition (the two prayers) reveais nuances of Richart's emotional state as he waits at the gallows: his confusion, desperation and hopelessness evident in his focus on negative eschatology, and fear revealed in his stalling. This ponayal of emotions through disjunctive echo rather than through introspective monologue, or description, as for example in the romances of Chrétien de Troyes. illustrates the subtlety of the aesthetic effects which the chanson de geste poets achieve by using repetition to divide their poems into units which a recognising, remembering audience then collates. 8 Obviously the reference to Daniel should follow the Creation. When Renaut inserts this story of Daniel and the lions' den into his biblical summary at the wrong moment in an otherwise credibly ordered biblical history, its relevance to the four brothers, moving towiirds their own lions' den at Vaucouleurs, is highlighted. Since Renaut evokes storîes which are not al1 present in any one Gospel. it is not possible CO give an exact chronology of the events. C) Raoul de Cambrai The section of Raoul de Cambrai which describes the fighting leading to Raoul's death, from Bernier's embassy to the tmce cailed after Raoul's death (vv. 2055-3046), has five disjunctive echoes: The first echo frames the passage within which the others appear (with the exception of vv. 2064-7, VV. 2959-61 ). Series a) : vv. 2092-2 106, vv. 2880-92; The Frame In Raoul de Cambrai a passage of 15 verses. repeated at 788 verses from its original occurrence, functions as a framing device to the battle between Raoul's men and the Vermandois, which ends in Raoul's death. Bemier pronounces the passage the first time it appears and at its repetition. His first utterance is in the context of his peace embassy to Raoul on behalf of the sons of Herbert. Raoul has wronged him in buming his mother and the nuns at Origny, and in striking him despite the feudd oath which binds them as lord and vassal. After striking Bernier. Raoul made an offer of reparation which Bemier refbsed ai the time. Bernier's peace mission at the point when he reitentes Raoul's wrongs and his offer of reparation, is to accept Raoul's offer so that there can be p&ce between Raoul and Bernier's uncles. Raoul refuses to make peace on Bemier's tems and a battle begins. 53 The thirteen verse repetition of the passage appears after the battle between the two factions. Bernier asks Raoul to renew his offer of compensation in the context of interceding for Emaut whom Raoul has been pursuing relentlessly. The original occurrence of the passage and its repetition (in bold typeface) are given below in the context of the laisse in which they occur. CXII (2081 - 106) CLIII (2869-909) 'Sire R[aous]' - ce dist I'enfes Bernier - En B[erneçon] ot molt bon chevalier, 'laissiés ester le plait de vo qartier. 2870 fort et hardi et nobile guerier. Le vostre boivre ne le vostre mangier, A sa vois clere commença a huchier: se Dex m'aït, nen ai je gaires chier: 'Oncles E[rnaus], ne vos chaut d'esmaier, n'em mengeroie por les menbres tranchicr; car je irai mon signor araisnier.' ne je ne vuel folie commencier. II s'apuia sor le col del destrier; Cele parole dant Gerart le Poihier 2875 a haute vois commença a huchier: q'il vos conta cn vostre tré plriignier, 'E Raous, sire, fix de franche mollicr! Ii fil Hcrbert m'ont fait ci envoier, Tu m'adoubas, ce ne puis je noier, vos tenront il cc1 volez otroier. mais durement le m'as puis vendu chier: Endroit de moi ne1 volroie empirier. ocis nos a tant vaillant chevalier, Ma mere arcistes en Origni mostier, 2880 ma rnere arsistes en Origni mostier, et moi fesistes la teste pesoier; et moi fesistes la teste peçoier. droit m'en offristes, ce ne puis je noier: Droit m'en ~[fjfristes,ce ne puis je noier: por I'amendise poi avoir maint destrier. por I'amendise poi avoir maint destrier - Ofert m'en fure[n]t cent bon cheval offert m'en furent cent bon cheval corcier, corcier, 2885 et cent mulet et cent palefroi chier, et cent mulet et cent palefrois chier et cent escu et cent haubers doubliers. et cent espees et cent haubers doblier Coreciés ere qant vi mon sanc raier; et cent escus et cent helmes a or mier. a mes amis m'en alai consellier. Coureciés ere qant vi mon sanc mier, Or le me loent li vaillant chevalier, si ne Ie vous ne prendre n'otroier. 2890 se or le m'ofres, ja refuzer ne1 qier, A mes amis m'en alai consellier; et pardonrai trestout, par saint Richier, or le me loent li nobile guerier, mais qe mes oncles puisse a toi apaier. se or le m'ofre[s], ja refuser ne1 qier, Ceste bataille feroie je laissier, et pardonrai trestot par saint Richier, vos ne aumi ne qerroie touchier, mais qe mes oncles puisse a toi apaier.' 2895 toutes nos terres vos feroie baillier - mar en lairez ne[sj anste [dle pournier. CXIII (VV. 2 107-18) Laissiés les mors, n'i a nul recouvriw. Le quens R[aous] la parole entendi. E R[aous], sire, por Dieu le droiturier, Ou voit B[ernier], si I'apela ami: phi&te pregne, laisse nos apaissier, 'Si m'aït Diex, gant arnistié a ci, 2900 et cet mort home ne te chaut d'enchaucier - et par celui qi les paines soufri qi le poing pert, n'a en lui q'aïrier.' ja vo concel nen seront m[e]soï.' R[aous] I'oï, le sens qida changier; Desq'a son onde a son oire acoilli; si s'estendi qe ploient li estrier, ou q'il le voit, par le bras l'a saisi, desoz lui fait le dest[r]ier archoier. et la parole li conta et gehi, 2905 'Bstars! dist il, 'bien savez plaidoier, et I'runendise de Bernier autresi: mais vos losenges ne vos aront mestier - tout li conta, n'i a de mot menti. n'en partirés sans la teste tranchier!' 'Fai le biaus oncles, por amor Deu te pri! 'Voir,' dist B[emiers], 'bien me doi correcier Acordon nos, si soions bon ami!' or ne me vuel hui mais humelier.' 54 The first occurrence of the passage is fifteen verses long; the repetition of thirteen verses is slightly shorter, verse 2 10 1 being omitted, and verses 2098-9 contracted to one verse. A closer examination of the contraction of verses 2098-9 will demonstrate that verse 2886 consists of the first hemistich of verse 2099 and the second hemistich of verse 2098: et cent espees et cent haubers doblier et cent escus et cent helmes a or mier. (vv. 2098-9) et cent cscu et cent haubcrs doubliers. (v. 2886) The exactitude of the repetition at such a distance from its original occurrence, the fact that the omitted verse and the contraction occur within a couple of verses, and the nature of the contraction suggest that the repeated passage was deliberately copied at its repetition from the original occurrence. The contraction is typicai of scribal error. when the copying eye wanders between lines, attracted by a word in another line which resembles the word in the line he is copying. Not only is the structure of verses 2098 and 2099 the same (et ...et ...) but the numerative cent is repeated, and the items enumerated, espees, escus in the first hemistich and haubers, helmes in the second, commence with the same letter. It is clear that a scribe copying the passage could easily have produced the contraction which appears at verse 2886.' It seems probable from this evidence that the repeated passage was deliberately copied from the original occurrence. Raoul and Bernier are not brought into contact with each other between the first occurrence of the passage and its repetition. The passage highlights the beginning and the end of the battle There are two possible copying scenarios which could have produced the omission of one verse and the contraction of two verses to one verse. Either the second passage was copied from the first passage as the poem was being composed, or the second passage was copiçd from the second passage of another manuscript version of the poem. The degree of sirnilarity between the original occurrence of the passage and its repetition when the repetition appears at such a distance fiom the original suggests that the repetition was copied from the original, and thus it is probable that the copying error was made ai this stage, rather than when a manuscript containing the poem was copied into a second manuscript. and marks two emotionally charged encounters between Raoul and Bernier, which are simultaneously potential tuming points in the action. Between the two occurrences Raoul locks himself into irredeernable belligerence, passing from reconciliation : Li quens R[ûous] la parole entendi. Ou voit B[ernier], si I'apela ami: 'Si m'ait Diex, grant amistié a ci, et par celui qi les paines soufri ja vo concel ncn seront m[e]soi.' (vv. 2 107-1 1 1) to furious rejection: R[aous] l'ai, te sens qida changicr; si s'esiendi qe ploient li estrier, desoz lui fait le dest[r]ier archoier. 'Bastars' dist il, 'bien savez piaidoier, mais vos losenges ne vos mont mestier - n'en partiris sans la teste tranchier!' (vv. 2902-7) The exact repetition of Bemier's words indicating that Bemier's offer does not change between the beginning and the end of the battle highlights the polarity of Raoul's first and second reac tions. The difference between Raoul's reactions to Bemier's proposals is dso highlighted by the distribution of the elements of the discourse across the laisses. In the first instance, Raoul's positive reaction to Bemier's first peace offer occurs at the beginning of a new laisse. Between Bemier's proposal, and Raoul's reaction, there is a bnef hiatus which suggests that Raoul has paused to reflect before replying to Bernier. In the second instance, Raoul's reaction to Bernier occurs in the sarne laisse as the peace proposal. The positioning of Raoul's reaction on the heels of Bemier's proposal reinforces the semantic content of verses 2902-7 which demonstrate that at this point Raoul is hotheaded and irrational. The perception of this recurrence creates a frarne to the battle and measures the change in Raoul. 56 Senes b): vv. 2064-7, vv. 2092-4, vv. 2132-4, vv. 2880-2, vv. 2959-61 Series b) presents Bemier's accusations of Raoul in two forms, strong and attenuated, which altemate, indicating Bemier's controlled movement between diplomacy and emotional release. The second and fourth occurrences forrn a part of the framing repetitions, series a) with the first occurrence of series b) preceding the framing echo, and the last following. Common to al1 five of Bemier's addresses to Raoul is one repeating verse, nia mere arcistes el rnostier d'Origni and a verse or verses stating Raoul's crime against Bemier. Within this statement are two di fferent expressions of Bemier's reproac h to Raoul. The first emphasises strongl y how Raoul has wronged Bemier. Variation 1 et moi meismes feristes autreci, si qe li sans vermaus en respandi. The second variation excises the reference to the blood of Bemier's wound replacing it with Bemier's recognition that Raoul made an attempt to nght his wrong. Here Bemier is taking a more conciliatory approach to Raoul. Variation 2 et moi fesis Iri teste peçoier. Droit m'en ofris, ce ne puis je noier; In the citations which follow, 1 shall use bold typeface to indicate the verses which belong only to the b) senes of repetitions and bold, italic typeface to indicate verses which occur in both the a) and b) senes. The first occurrence of the series b) repetitions occurs when Bemier approaches Raoul to deliver his message and negotiate a peace settlement. Bemier greets Raoul's men with a traditional blessing and singles out Raoul with the following curse: 1) Et il confonde R[aoul] de Carnbrisi qi mu mere art el mostier d'origni, et les nonnains, dont j'ai le cuer mari; et moi meisme feri il autresi si qe li sans vermaus en respandi. (vv. 2063-67) Bernier's curse reproaches Raoul with two things: injuiy to his mother and injury to him~elf.'~ This two-pronged reproach reappears in the first occurrence of senes a): 2 1 Mo mere arcktes en Origni mostier, et moi fesistes la teste peçoier droit m'en off&tes, ce ne puis je noier: (vv. 2092-4) Bernier's reference to his mother in this instance repeats verse 2064 with little variation. The reference to the personal assault, however, is phrased differently this time, replacing the graphic, two-line description of the wound with a single, more abstract line, and it is followed by the recognition of Raoul's offer of reparation (v. 2094). The third repetition of series b) reports Bernier's reaction when Gueni refuses to agree io the peace offer which has Raoul has accepted: Dist B [erneçons], 'Damerdieu cn merci! Sire R[aous], je voi cest plait feni, por lin meffriit dont m'avez mal bailli. Deci qe la vos avoie servi; vos le m'riveiz vilainement meri: ma mere arcistes el mostier d90rigni et moi wïsmcs feristes autreci, si qe li sans vermaus en respandi.'(vv. 2 127-34) Here Bemier reverts rapidly to the strong form of his statement of Raoul's wrong, appearing relieved that Guem's rejection of the peace offer allows him to pursue his revenge (v. 2 127). The founh repetition occurs in the address which Bernier makes to Raoul when he intervenes for Emaut (i.e., second part of series a) in a second attempt at reconciliation: 4) ma mere arsistes en Origni mostier, et moi fesistes la teste peçoier. Droiî m'en owristes, ce ne puis je noier (vv. 2880-2) -- 'O When Raoul wrongs Bernier, in addition CO injuring a childhood friend, he is offending ogainst feudal ethics, since Raoul is Bernier's feudal lord. In the dispute between Raoul and the Vermandois, Bernier is in a unique position. In Bernier unite the need for persona1 and political revenge, and a vested interest in seeing the land issue settled justly since the land in question is the inheritance of his half-brothers. 58 The attenuated variation of the accusation appears here, as Bernier makes a last attempt at reconciliation. The final appearance of the repeating b series is at Raoul's death when Bernier addresses his corpse as follows: 5) E R[aous], sire, fix de franche mollier, tu m'a(s)doubas, ce ne puis je noier; mais durement le m'as puis vendu chier: ma mere amis par dedens un moustier, et moi fesis h teste peçoier. Droit m'en ofk, ce ne puis je noier; de In vengance ja plus faire ne qier.' (vv. 2956-62) The strong form (variation 1) appears in the curse Bernier delivers as he greets Raoul and his men on arrival, and in Bernier's reaction to Guerri's refusai of the peace offer. Bemier, reluctant from the outset to surrender his right to avenge himself and his mother, quickly resumes a confrontational attitude when Guerri provides a suitable opponunity. The attenuated form of the accusation (variation 2) occurs in the two parts of the framing disjunctive echo (series a) when Bernier controls his emotions in two diplomatic efforts at reconciliation, and in the address which Bemier, avenged and appeased, makes to Raoul's corpse. In musical terms the repetition cornmon to al1 five occurrences of series b. (the first element of Bernier's reproach) ma mere arcistes el mostier d'Origni is the continuo, and the first and second variations of Raoul's crime against Bernier are modulations in either the major or the minor key: major when variation 2 is used and the rnood is conciliatory and minor when the first, more emotive variation threatens to incite violence. The two variations produce a pattem of incitement, conciliation, incitement, conciliation. The fifth term of the repeating series, at Raoul's death, dismpts this pattem since it is conciliatory. Series c): vv. 2304-6, vv. 2342-3 and series d): vv. 23 11-2, vv. 2347-9 The third and fourth series fonn a frarne around a short segment in which verbal variation is strong. 1 shall treat the c) and d) series together since the first is a set of questions, and the second a set of replies to these questions. Series c) involves a question and a challenge which first Ybert, then Louis, addresses to Raoul. Oir ies, R[aous],par Dieu le raenicznt? Ou ies nlez, R[aous] cfe Cczrnhrizis? Por qoi scroicnt tant franc home morant? Torrte vers moi tort destrier adentis. Torne vers rnoi tort destrier aruèrartt! Sc tu m'abas, grant los aras conquis - Sc tu mc vains a I'cspcc tranchant, Qitc te claim ma tcrrc ct mon pais: toulc ma tcrrc aras a ton commant - n'i clamcra rien nus dc mes amis.' (vv. 2342-6) tuit s'enfuiront li pcrc ct li çffant; n'i clameront un dcnicr valisant.' (W. 2304-10) This repetition of question, challenge and promise, is balanced by the descriptions of Raoul's lack of response in each case, which fom the d) series of repetitions. After Yben's question, the poem states: Ne I'oi pus R[aorrs], mien esciunt; d'arrrre part ert en Ili batuill[el gram, il ct ccs onclcs qi Ic poil a ferrant (vv. 231 1-3) Raoul has not heard Ybert's challenge because he is elsewhere in the battle, fighting with his uncle. When Louis calls out to Raoul, he is once again elsewhere, fighting with his uncle: Ne 1 'oi pus R[uous] de Cam brezis Car venus fust, jri ne li fust eschis; d'a~rtrepart ert el riche poigrreis, ou il tient le chaplc il et li sors G[ueris] (vv. 2347-50) The repetition of the question and the narrative reply creates an impression that Raoul is absent from the scene of combat being recounted in strong contrast to the pattern of action in the later stages when the focus of the narrative is on Raoul's insatiable appetite for destruction. After Raoul has engaged in combat with Hugh, and killed hirn, he spars with, and kills, or wounds a series of men: Richier, Jehan, Bertolai, Ernaut, Rocoul, Ybert and Bernier. Series e): vv. 2402- 18, vv. 2639-54 The final series of repetitions has two occurrences which 1 present below with italic typeface highlighting the verbal repetitions. The first describes an encounter in battle between Ernaut and Guem, Raoul's uncle, and the second describes an encounter between Ernaut and Raoul. In both encounters, Emaut is saved from death by the intervention of Bernier. Laisse 128, vv. 2402- 18 Laisse 140, vv. 2639-54 Artdiri fi corire furent nobile et fier. Arirliti li corire ont gucrpi lor estrier. El sor G[itcri/ or t~olrbori clievcrlier, Eu Rlaoirsl or rrienilloz clrevcrlier, fort er hardi par ces arrrim baillier. fort et It«rdi por ces orrries baillier; L'escu enbrace. tint I'espee d'acier, hors de son fuere a trait le brmc d'acier. erfiert Errtrrltt sor sort elnie (t or rriier, erjier[tl E[rrinrtr/ sor sou elrrie n or rriier qejiors et picrcs en fitir jrts rrebrrdiicr. qe flors et pieres cri a jrts rrcbrtclrir'. S'or n'eüst trait E[rnaus] son chief arier, Ne fust la coife de son hauberc doublier, fendu I'eüst G[ueris] dusq'el braier. deci es dens feist le branc glacier. Devers senestre cola li brans d'acier - L'espee tome el costé senestier; cfe soli escit li trnriclia rita qarrier (le sori ~CIIfi colpc~ 1111 clrtrrier, et un des pans de son hauberc doublier. et deus cens maille de son hauberc doublier - Grans fu li cols - molt tist a resoignier; tout estordi le fist jus trebuchier. si I'estona q[e]l tist agenoillier. Enictur le voir, 11 'i or qc esntciier; E/rrtnirsl le voit, rr 'i or qe es~riciier; Dieii reckinin, le ivrai jrtsricier. Dieu rc.clama, le vertri jrrsiicier: 'Scrirrte Marie, perisez de 1r1ui ctidier! 'Sairtre Marie, perisez (le rtioi airlier! Je referai cl 'Origirii le rriosrier. ' Je refercti cf 'Origrii le triosticr. * Recognition of the repetition produces two effects, one from the collation of these units, and the second from the juxtaposition of this series of units with series c) and d). Both uni ts of the repeti tion reproduced above are accounts of Ernaut in combat, first with Guem and then with Raoul. The beginning of each unit occurs at the beginning of the laisses (128 and 140), and is marked by exact verbal repetition which extends over five and a half verses. The effect of this repetition is that it inevitably invites the audience to draw a comparison between Guem and Raoul. This uncle / nephew pairing has been present in the narrative since the series of peace embassies which precede the battle during which Raoul meets his death. When Gerard of Poix makes the first peace ernbassy, Raoul approaches Guem to gauge his reaction to Gerard's 61 message. Guem is clearly in favour of a peaceful resolution of differences, but Raoul's reaction is anger which reconfims his resolve to go to battle with Herbert's sons. When Gerard of Poix returns to his camp and reports that Raoul will not accept a peaceful resolution, Eudes decides he should pursue a path of moderation, and sends Bernier as a second arnbassador for peace. This tirne it is Raoul who accepts Bernier's peace proposal, while Guem rejects it. The roles of the uncle and his nephew in the context of the peace proposal have been reversed. Once the fighting has begun, however, Raotil and Guerri are clearly on the same side, and this solidarity is underlined through the verbal repetition of the descriptions at the beginning of laisses 128 and 140. The second effect of the series e) repetitions is related to the units' last four verses (vv. 24 15- 18, vv. 265 1-54) which relate Ernaut's prayer to the Virgin Mary, and to the interaction of this series with the c) and d) series. Emaut is ruthlessly pursued throughout the battle. Even üfter Emaut has appealed to the Virgin a second time, Raoul continues to attack, cutting off his opponent's left hand. This disabling injury prevents Emaut frorn defending himself, and yet Raoul continues to pursue him relentlessiy, in spite of Emaut's appeal for mercy at vv. 270 1-5. By this point in the battle, Raoul is 'like a man possessed' : Li quens R[aous] ot tout le sens changié. (v. 2842) The repetition of Emaut's prayer for help and the concomitant promise to rebuild the chape1 which Raoul has destroyed contributes to a growing picture of Raoul's intransigent wrath. Contrasting with the series c) and d) repetitions which create an impression of Raoul's absence from the fighting, Ernaut's appeals for divine aid reinforce a strong sense of Raoul's presence in the battle, and his dernoniac pursuit of his victim. 62 The interplay between the repetitions which create a sense of Raoul's absence, and those which emphasise his relentless pursuit of Emaut is also evident in a subtle echo of the c) series Ou ies.. question which precedes the encounter between Raoul and Emaut, when Emaut asks: Ics tu dont cc R[aous] dc Cambrisis? (v. 26 17) This question is a subtle echo of the pair of questions discussed above which contributed to the impression of Raoul's absence from the first stages of the battle: Ou ics, R[aous], por Dicu Ic rricrnant?(v. 2304) Ou ics alcz, R[aousJdc Cambrizis? (v. 2342) The questions which ask where Raoul is are part of the repetition which creates an impression of Raoul's absence from the battle. The question which asks for confirmation of Raoul's identity immediately precedes Ernaut's repetition of his appeal for aid, which emphasises Raoul's unrelenting presence. The differential between these two questions can be read as a shorthand for distinguishing between the two parts of the battle: Raoul absent, Raoul present. To sum up, the section of Raoul de Cambrai that recounts the battle in which Raoul is killed is composed of several rrpeaiing groups of verses. These repeating series do not merely function to create effects from within an individual series: they interact, producing cornplex effects. For example, I have shown how the series of repetitions which create an impression of Raoul's absence and presence funciion as a pair. From the obvious temporal and narrative demarcation of the battle through the principal disjunctive echo of the passage (series a), to the articulation of the battle into two parts predicated on Raoul's presence or absence (series c and d), and the pairhg and opposing of Guerri and Raoul (series e), the verbal repetition in this passage of Radde Cambrai frarnes, 63 articulates, contrasts, demarcates, and generally shapes a scene of battle which would otherwise appear chaotic. d) Disjunctive echo from the perspective of Roland, Oliver and Renaut In the Oxford Roland and Renaut de Montauban there is evidence that the heroes are sensitive to repetition, and its effects. In their recognition of verbal repetitions, the characters are a mise-en-abyme of the poems' audience when it engages with disjunctive echo. i) Roland In the scene of the Oxford Roland where Roland sounds the hom, Oliver and Roland's use and avoidance of repetition appear to suggest their awareness of the possible effects, rhetoncal and psychological, of verbal repetition. In laisse 83 when Oliver makes his first reqiiest to Roland to sound his hom, Roland concludes his reply witli: JO vos plevis, tuz sunt jugez a mort. (Y. 1058) In laisse 84, at Oliver's second request, Roland replies in almost identical terms: JO vos plevis, tuz sunt a mort livrez. (v. 1069) At Oliver's third request to Roland to sound the Olifant, he picks up Roland's repeated oath and uses it, in opposition to Roland's assertion that he will not cal1 back the French and that the Saracens are doomed to die, to state that the French will corne back. Je vos plevis, ja returnerunt Franc. (v. 1072) Oliver appears to be sensitive to Roland's reptition, and adopts its pattern himself as a rhetorical I psychological strategy to assert the opposite of what Roland has maintained in his 64 previous replies. Roland recognises Oliver's manipulation of his repetition and avoids it in his reply. Both characters appear to be sensitive to verbal repetition. ii) Reriarrt de Morztarrbarz In laisse 16 1 of Renaut de Montnitburi occur two passages in which Aalart reminds his brothers of the lineage from which they are descended.' ' The first passage occurs immediatel y after the three brothers have decided that Renaut has betnyed them, and Richan has proposed that they kill Renaut. None of the brothers is capable of killing Renaut, and realising this. they al1 break down into tears. The second passage occurs about sixty verses Iüter when the fighting has started and the brothers noticing their arch enemy, Foque de Morillon, regret that they rire not equipped for battle. [VV.6958-651 [vv. 7033-30) Hé ! Diex, dist Arilart qui avoit le chief blont, Seignors, dist Aalart, entendez ma rriison: Porquoi nos as traiz, gentil fiz a baron? Quer friison une chose donc ennor eüsson, Ja n'estïon nos mie ne Englois ne Breton, Que premerainement ferir les rilisson. Anceis somes tuit frerc et nos aprirtenon. Ja sonies rios nei~zGirclrt de Rosillurr Por Deu, sire Renaut, donc vint la traison ? Et Doori de Nmitrtil et Buevoti cl'Aygre~~iorit: Jn fimes rios rievo Girnrt del Rossillori, Uriq~tesriostre lipicige ~tefi~tjor se bie~inari. Er Doori de Ncrrttld et Bitevori d'Aygreniont: Dehet ait qui fuira tant corn vivre porron! Uuqrrtis riostre ligringe rie periscr truison. Ainz en ociron .xxx. que desconfiz soion. Aalart's purpose in evoking the ancestors is different each time. The first reference to the fore fathers rein forces the solidurity between the brothers which has been disturbed by the suspicion that Renaut has betrayed them, and the suggestion that he should be killed. Aalart attempts to reinstate the brotherly solidarity by emphasizing the fact of thçir brotherhood and its significance (v. 6961) and situating his family within an illustrious lineage which has never committed treachery. The suspicion of treachery on Renaut's part has not been totally dispelled at this point (v. 6959), but by emphasising genetic fratemity in a lineage which has never :1 For further discussion of the Iineage of the four sons of Aymon in Renaut. see above pp. 30-2. 65 committed treachery, Adart glosses over the fear and suspicion by seeking validation in the pas t . The idea of fraternal solidarity has been associated with these ancestral names since the very beginning of the poem: Si corn Karlcs dc France li forz rois corroncz Gucrroia Ic duc Bucf d'Aigrcmont I'alosd Et Girart Ic sien frcre qui tant est redoutez Et Doo dc NantuciI O Ic grcnon mellé Et Aime dc Dordon lc vassal adurE: Cil .iiii. furent frere ct d'un pcrc cngcnrd (vv. 6- 1 1 ) In the context of the emphasis on fraternal solidarity, it is significant that in the verses preceding Aalart's first address to bis brothers, Renaut cuts a lonely, isolated figure. In the third verse of laisse 161, the .iiii., which has designatcd the brothers up to this point, has become .iii.: Renaut et si .iii. frcrc chcvauchcnt a bandon (v. 6794)" When Aalart, Guischart and Richart start to sing in harrnony, Renaut drags behind, hanging his head and watching his brothers (vv. 6808-9). He starts to prüy, and in his prayer, he maintains the distance which has been established between him and his brothers: Si garis hui mon cors dc mort ct dc prison, Et mes freres tuit .iii. que bocn chevalier sunt (vv. 6835-6) The poet's description of Vaucouleurs (vv. 6856-74) highlights the necessity of the three + one reuniting to become four. Vaucouleurs has four forests, it is bordered by four torrents, there is no castle within four leagues, and, connecting the area to France, Normandy, Gascogne and Galice, there are four roads. If they are to have any chance of survivd, each brother must be responsible for the defence of one of these four approaches. The function of the ancestral evocation in the second passage is different in spite of the sirnilarity of discourse situation and the verbal repetition. There is no longer any question of ------l2 Also 'Ainz rote ne viele, ne nul psalterion, Ne vos pleüst tant bien comme li .iii. baron.' (vv. 6804-5) 66 treachery and the evocation of the venerable ancestors serves not so much to create solidarity (a fait nccornpli in any case), but to inspire courage and fervour to excel in battle. Unques nostre lignage ne pensa tmison has becomt: Unques nostre lignage ne fist jor se bien non. However, Renaut's response to Aalart, reintrodiices the fraternal solidarity theme: Moi ct vos sorncs frcrcs, pres nos apartcnon. (v. 7033) This is an imperfect echo of verse 696 1 of Aalart's first address: Anccis somcs tuit frcrc ct nos apartcnon Renaut, recognising the repetition of the ancestral litany, and remembering its association with solidarity, reminds his brothers of the ethos of the first address. Thereafter the brothers give voice to their courage with battle cries. and in verse 7038 they are once again the .W.fi Ayrnon. There are two different types of remembering in this passage: remernbrance of the ancestors which inspires solidarity and courage, and remembrance by one character of the words and the message of another. Both types of remembering are also performed by the poem's audience which through the medium of the poem remembers the great deeds of heroes, and which recognises and remembers the repeating words of the poet. e) Conclusion The analyses of disjunctive echo in Ami et Amile, Renaut de Montauban, and Raod de Cambrai demonstrate that the collation of the units of a disjunctive echo produces a range of effects. The gathering of the two units of the disjunctive echo in Ami et Amile highlights Lubias' jealousy of the mde couple's similarity and her consequent strategy of identification with her 67 husband. A cornparison of the units of prayer by Renaut and Richart in Renaut focuses attention on Richart's fear, despair and confusion. The five disjunctive echoes in Raoul are the most cornplex, since in addition to the effects which emerge from the collation of the units of one disjunctive echo, the collation of the disj unctive echoes themselves is significant. For example, the echo questioning Raoul's whereabouts in the battle (c) works with the echo stating Raoul's lack of response (d) to emphasise Raoul's absence, and in turn, this combination of echoes is collated with the echo which highlights Raoul's relentless presence in the fighting (e), to create a pattern of absence and presencr corresponding to the stark contrats portrayed by the remaining two echoes (a), (b) which portray movement between extremes of emotion in Raoul and Bernier. Finally, the recognition of verbal repetition by Oliver, Roland and Renaut is a tnise-en- rihyrie of the reception of disjunctive echo by the audience of the chnnsons de geste. 68 Conclusion to Part 1 Repetirion changes norl~ingCi the object repeated. but does change sornerliing iii the niind which conreaip~atesif." The division of the chansons de geste poems into units is a stylistic trait which critics, medieval and modem, have perceived negativrly as narrative disjunction. In the prologue to Erec et Enide Chrétien famously speaks of his 'conte d'aventure' as a 'mout bele conjunture'.'" He contrasts with his 'beautiful conjunction' the work of professional poets who are accustomed to 'fragment and corrupt' (depecier et corrompre) the tale of ~rec.'?n modem times, Gaston Paris gives his impression that the Song of Roland is 'une suite d'explosions successives, toujours arrêtées court et toujours reprenant avec soudaineté'.16 W. P. Ker says that the poem consists of 'separaie scenes wiih no gradation or transition between thcm'." The classic formulation of this impression of the Oxford Rolrirzd is made by Erich Auerbach, who labels its style as paratactic.'8 Eugène Vinaver accepts that parataxis may be used as a poetic device and that 'ou mind then rushes into the artificially created verbal vacuum to supply by its own cogitation al1 that the poet bas deliberately left un~aid."~However, he believes that the parataxis of the clicrnsons de geste is different: l3 D. Hume, A Treurise of Htrninn Narrrre (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), cited by Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition, trans. by Paul Patton (Ncw York: Columbia University Press, 1994), p. 70. '' Al1 of the quotations from Erec et Enide which follow occur in vv. 9-22. Romans, Chrrfien de Troyes: sirivis de Charisotis, avec, en nppertdice, Philomena (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1994). l5 The only details of description which would identify the poets to which Chrétien refers are: they perform 'devant rois et devant contes' and 'de conter vivre vuelent'. Although Chrétien does not make specific reference to the creators of the chansons de geste, given the disjunctive style of these poems, and Chrétien's eagerness to situaie his own narrative style in contrast to a tradition, I believe that it is probable that his reference is to the epic pocts. 16 La Littérature française au moyen âge, 5" ed. (Paris: Hachette, 1914), pp. 62-3. " Epic and Romance: Essays on Medieval Lireroture, 2" cd. (London: Macmillan, 1908) p. 290. " Mimesis: The Representatiori of Reafiry in Western Literarirre, trans. by Willard Trask (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953)' pp. 96- 122. The Rise of Roniance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 197 1) p. 6. Thc parataxis used in the French epic is of a differcnt kind: it is genuine, not contrived; it invites simplc acccptancc, not elaboration; ii does not conceal coritinuity and cohesion in silent intervals, but dispenses with such things, and any exegcsis that attempts to supply thcm rcsults in a distortion of the linguistic and pociic pattern of the work." While these comments recognise the unitary construction of the chansons de geste, they direct attention to the gaps between the units and emphasise disjunction, rather than asking what, if any, relation there may be between the units. The important point about the scansion of the text into units and the use of disjunctive echo is the response which these evoke in the audience. Given a poem in which a unit of text repeats several times, the reaction of the audience will be to juxtapose, or to collate these units. This activity is most easily apparent when one considers the reaction of an audience which is recciving a text divided into units through the use of transition formulae. In order to make sense of the various narrative threads, the audience must collate the appropriate textual units. A stark exarnple of the difference in the demands a poem makes of its audience when it requires active audience collaboration may be seen in a comparison of the character descriptions of Roland and Ganelon in the Oxford Roland with the description of Esmerez and Milon in Florence de Rome. The descriptions of Roland and Ganelon are almost identical. Roland is described as follows: Cors ad mult gent, le vis clcr et riant. (vv. 1 159) and Ganelon: Cors ad gaillard, e.1 vis gente color; S'il fust leials, ben resemblast barun. (vv. 3763-1) Ganelon, the traitor, and Roland, the hero, are polar opposites on the poem's ethical scde, and yet, beyond the narratorial remark in v. 3764, which calls attention to the similarity of ibid. 70 description, there is nothing in their character descriptions to distinguish them. If the audience is alert io the similarity of description, it will juxtapose the textual units in which the descriptions occur and from this collating activity, it will becorne apparent that Roland's description occurs in a martial context, and Ganelon's in a council scene. From this juxtaposition the audience will discrrn 'Roland as a man of action, and Ganelon as a man of words' ." When the poet of Florence de Rome describes the close resemblance of Esmerez and Milon in laisse 38, he articulates the difference explicitly: Quant li rois fu montez, bicn rcsambla baron Atant cs Esmcrez cntrc lui ct Milon A tot vint chcvalicrs, quc sont lor compaignon; Chescun porte banncric ou cnscignc ou pcnnon, Esmcrez fu laiauz, n'ot pas Ic cucr felon. Et dc chcvaleric ot en lui grant foison: Et Miles, li sucn frcrc, rctùst auqucs prcudon, Sc il n'cüst cn lui orgucl ct traïson Nc por quant armez furcnt andui d'unc façon (vv. 1 125-33) This description of Esrnerez and Milon renders in explicit terrns the same kind of distinctions between characters thet are rendered implicitly in the Roland's presentation of Roland and Ganelon. The difference is that the Roland poet indicates similarity through verbal repetition, leaving the audience to recognise the repetition, and to discem from coniext the distinction between Roland and Ganelon, while the Florence de Rome poet States explicitly that Esmerez and Milon are ethical opposites in spite of their identicai armour. In bis sixth chapter, Analogy as the Dominmit Form, Vinaver describes audience response to parts of the thirteenth-century French prose romances. His thesis is that theological anagoge influences secular art, with the difference that 'for the upward reference to things, it substituted -- " Sarah Kay. 'The naturc of rhetoric in the chanson de geste'. Zeirschrflfiir ronronische Philologie, 94 (1984), 305-20, pp. 3 16-7. Kay gives a similar example from Raotrf de Cambrai in whicli similar descriptions of Raoul and Bernier (vv. 1544-55, vv. 5595-600) are distinguished not by content but by context. a horizontal reference from one theme to an~ther.'~'One of Vinaver's examples of secular analogy is the E~toirede Merlh which he sees as being divided into two parts 'symmetrical in position and parallel in content'. In the first half Arthur becomes a king through Excalibur when he draws it from the Stone, and in the second half Gawain becomes a knight through Excali bur. He comments that: In a thirteenth-century cyclic romance such an arrangement inevi tübly crcated the impression that whatever happened on the first occasion was somehow re-enacted on the second: everything remriined present throughout the story and a brief rcference, sometimes a single phrase or a seemingly casuril allusion sufficed to brins bnck what was said in a parallel passage. however remote.'" Vinaver describes the effect of secular analogy in romances as follows: As we follow the elaboraiion of Arthurian romance in the thirteenth century, more examples of tliis kind corne to Our notice: examples of how the juxtaposition of anülogous incidents can be used ris a means of bringing to light something which would otherwise have remained unknown or unexpliiined. The result is a widening of the forms of *understanding'.. .." Wi th reference to the thirteenth-century romances, Vinaver has descnbed one of the defining aesthetic principles of the cl~uttsoil.~de geste. In the example given above he illustrates how the romance audience rnust juxtapose the analogous incidents of Arthur's and Gawain's reception of Excülibur and that this juxtaposition creates a commentary. In my discussion of textual division in the chansons de geste 1 have argued that the audience's juxtaposition of Renaut's hanging and the hangman's hanging uncovers a pattern of displacement which 'brings to light' or highlights the younger son's precarious position in society. It seems strange that Vinaver, who has described the process of collation in which the romance audience engages, does not recognise that the audience of the chaizso~isde geste engages in similar activity. I emphasise Vinaver's analysis of the use of analogy in thirteenth-century French romance because its - pp " The Rise of Romance, p. 105. ibid. p. LW. " ibid. p. 105. method of parallelism of event, repetition of phrases, and action, and the concomitant collating activity of the audience resembles so closely the textual strategies of the chansons de geste, that one cannot escape the suggestion that ei ther the romances came under the influence of epic technique, or that both the chanso~lsrie geste and the romances are exempln of a Iarger literary, or sociological phenornenon. The techniques which create in the audience an interpretative, creative state. which pnvileges collation and analogous thinking, are those of medieval mnemonic, which 1 explore in the following chapter. Part 2 Memory, Mnernonics, and the Remembering Subject In Part 1 1 demonstrated that the chansons de geste consist of compositional units of various sizes, ranging from the laisse, to units within the laisse (micro-units), to units comprised of series of laisses (macro-units). 1 argued that the audience is sensitive to the delineation of the units through recognition of formulae and verbal and thematic repetition, and that the audience collaborates in the creation of the chçinsons de geste by coilating these units. Audience memory is vitally important to these processes of recognition and collation. Part 2 will investigate issues surrounding audience memory: parallels between cltonson de geste poetics and medieval mnemonic iheory, the identity of the remembering subject, and the cognitive processes of remembering. The third chapter will suggesi that audience mernory is activated by rhetorical strategies which are analogous to the principles of mnemonic theory. This comparison between aspects of chanson de geste style, such as division and disjunctive echo, and medieval mnemonic theory has been greatly facilitated by a recent publication on ancient and medieval memory techniques by Mary Camthers which provides an overview of sources and new perspectives on the memory question in general.' The chapter will discuss parallels between division, collation, visualisation and aurilisation in the chansons de geste and the mnemonic theories of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and will both indicate similarities and articulate differences which suggest a development of mnernonic theory in the direction of aesthetic technique on the part of the chansons de geste. This chapter ' My debt to The Book of Memor). will be evideni from the fooinotes throughout the rhird cliapter. 73 74 will conclude by presenting some of the representations of memory which occur in the prologues of the poems, and which employ the memory metaphors of the mnemonic tradition. The fourth chapter consists of two parts: the first addresses the issue of the identity of the remembering subject in the chznsons de geste; the second, the question of how the remembering subject remembers. The first part will extend the argument, iniiiated in the preceding chapters, that the principal remernbering subject of the chansons de geste is the audience. After a brief review of the literature which posits the jongleur as the remembering subject of the poems, a close reading of the prologue to Renaut de Montnrtbnn will examine the way in which the poem presupposes a remembering audience. The second part iooks at the processes to which the remembering subject submits from the viewpoint of cognitive science. The fifth chapter presents the epic echo as an extra-epic phenornenon. by looking at effects of repetition in some modem films and in Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu. Chapter 3 The Chansons de Geste and Medieval Mnemonic Theory At the time when the chaiisons de geste were being composed, there were practicall y no new works on the art of memory.' However, an interest in the art of memory at this time is evident from the rnedieval manuscript and cornmen tary tradition of classical works which deal with memory. Discussions of the art of memory appear in rhetorical manuals because in Antiquity memory was considered to be one of the five parts of rhetoric, (the others being invention, arrangement, style and delivery). The ancient art of mernory wüs known to the Middle Ages through Cicero's De oratore (Book II, 350-60), Quinti lian's Institutio orntoria (Book XI) and the Riirtorica ad Here~iniltnr(Book III).' The principal mnenionic art of Antiquity and the Middle Ages consists of 'locational memory', a method discovered by the poct Simonides which is based on placing images of the things to be remembered against a background? ' The oldest chartsons de geste are thought to date from the eleventh century. The golden age of the chnrzsott de eeste is the twelfth century, although the genre continued well into the thirteenth centcry. ' Grovcr A. Zinn, Jr., 'Hugh of Saint Victor and the Art of Memory', Viator 5 (1974), 2 1 1-34, pp. 2 i 1- 12 and The Book of Menrory, pp. 7 1-2. The later Middle Ages produced arts of memory independently of rhetorical treatises. Wowever, these Iater scholastic ors rrieniorntiva treatises which no longer treat memory as a component of rhetoric, but as part ofethics are not relevant to this study of parallels between the poetic technique of the clinruons de geste and mnemonic principies. Cf. Frances Yates, Tire Art ofMentory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966)- p. 57. The story of Simonides* discovery of the art of rnernory is told by Quintilian (kstitt,tio orntorin) and by Cicero (De ormore). See Harry Caplan, 'Memoria: Treasure-House of Eloquence* in Of Eloqrrerice, 196-246, pp. 220- 1. See also The Art of Menrory, pp. 1-2 and The Book of Meniory, pp. 22. Carruthers refers to this as 'architectural mnernonic' and Yates as 'Ciceronian mnemonic'. In Antiquity differences in mnemonic strategy were more variations on the architectural mnemonic than completely different systems. During the Middle Ages, however, in addition to the architectural mnemonic, there were memorial devices (eg. rosaries), rhyming catalogues, rhyrning verses and an elaborate digital mnemonic, elaborated by Bede in De loqtrela digirortrni, see The Book of Mernory, p. 122. For further details of alternative mnemonic strategies see Helga Hajdu, Dus Mnentoiechnische Schrifrrrnr des Mittelrlters (Vienna: Franz Leo, 1936). Constat igitur artificiosa memoria ex locis et imaginibus." The theory is that once the remembering subject has disposed images against a background, it will then be possible to read these images from memory as letters from a page: ...qui mnernonica didicerunt possunt quod audicrunt in locis conlocarc et cx his rncmoriier pronuntiare. Nam loci ccrrie aut chartac simillimi sunt, imagines litteris, dispositio et conlocatio iniaginum scripiurac, pronuntiatio ~cctioni.~ The most influential source of this memory theory during the Middle Ages was the Rhetoricn rid Herenniirm, composed during the first century B.C. and attributed at that time to Cicero. Interest in the Rhetorica ad Herennium is also attested in an extensive commentary tradition which appears in the twelfth century6 The purpose of the memory advice in the ancient rhetoricül treatises was to enable orators to memorise the speeches which they were to deliver. However, there are indications that the art of memory was not considered to be the privileged domain of orators, but could benefit various vocations, including poets and monks. When Cassiodorus treats rhetoric iri his Institrtfiories, he lists those to whorn memorisation of commonplaces rnay be useful: 4 [Cicero] Ad C.Herenriiunt de Ratione Dicendi (Rherorica ad Herenniurn), Harry Caplan (cd., tram.), (Locb Classical Library, Cambridge, Mass. and London, 1954) 111, xvi. 29. 'The artificial memory includcs backgrounds and images.' Translations of Latin quotritions in the main text arc given in thc footnotes. 1 indicatc the translation used on ezich occasion, unless the quotation is from the Ad Herenniurn in which case the translater is atso the text's editor. Where a translation occurs wiihout a translater's name, the translation is my own. Ad Herennium, III, xvii. 30: ' ...thosc who have learned mnemonics can set in backgrounds what they have heard. and from these backgrounds deliver it by tnemory. For the backgrounds are very much like wax tablets or papyrus, the images like the letters, the arrangement and disposition of the images like the letters, and the delivery is likc the reading.' 6 See Karl Manitius, 'Zur Überlieferung des sogenannten Auctor ad Hercnnium', Philologtts 1100 (1956)- 62-6; Harry Caplan, 'Introduction to the Rherorica ad Herclnnium', 1-25 and 'A Mediaeval Commentary on the Rhetorica ad Heren~ii~tnt',247-70 (this presents a twclfth-century gloss of the work, often known as the Alanus gloss, which is possibly the work of Alain of Lille) in Of Eloqitence. Also, see Capian's introduction to his edition of the Ad Herennium. According to L. D. Reynolds, and N. G. Wilson, Scribes crnd Scholars: A Guide to the Trnrtsnission of Greek and Lutin Lirerature, 3" ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 199 1):'There are innumerable (or at least unnumbered) complete manuscripts dating from the tenth century onwards.' p. 99. The full extent of the influence of this work on education, poetry and prose in the Middle Ages has yet to be fully worked out. See Criplan, 'Introduction to Ad Herennium', p. 25. Memoriae quoque condendum est, topica oratoribus, dialecticis, poetis et iurisperitis communiter quidem argumenta praestare; sed quando aliquid spccialiter probant, ad rethores, poetas iurisperitosque pertinent, quando ver0 generaliter disputant, ad philosophos attinere manifestum est.' He also suggests that the memorisation techniques of orators be adapted to the use of monks: Mcmoratus autem Fortunatirinus in tertio libro meminit de oratoris mernoria, de pronuntiationc et vocc; unde tamen monachus cum aliqua utilitate discedit, quando ad suas partes non improbe vidctur attrahcrc, quod illi ad exercendas controversias utiliter riptaverunt. memoriam siquidem lcctionis divinac recognita cautela setvabit, cum in supradicto libro cius vim qualitatemque cognoverit; artcm vero pronuntiationis in divinac legis effatione concipict; vocis autcm diligcntiam in psalmodiae cantationc custodit. sic instructus in opcrc sancto redditur, quamvis aliquantulurn libris saccularibus occ~~ctur.~ Mary Camthers has suggested that a factor which distinguishes elementary mnernotechnics from the arts of memory is the relative emphasis of each on mernorisation for reproduction and re~e~tion.~This question merits further investigation. It is impossible to draw a distinction between treatises which deal exclusively with mnemonics for performance or mnemonics for reception, since in most writings there is a clear interest in both sides of the rhetorical coin. An interest in memory from the perspective of receptivity rather than productivity is represented briefly in the ancient treatises. An anonymous scholiast on Hermogenes classifies the elements of audience receptiveness as speed of thought, penetration and memory. The author of the Rlietoriccz ad Hererinium observes that whntever is said last is easily remernbered, and that it is useful to leave a strong argument in the hearer's mind: ' Cassiorlori Senutoris Institutiones, ed. R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937), (2, 3. 17). 'One should also store away in his memory the Fact that commonplaces furnish arguments alike io orators, dialecticians, pocts, and lawyers; but when they demonstrate a particular point they have to do with orators, poets and iawyers, and when they treat a general question they cicarly concern dialecticians.' Trans. by Leslie W. Jones in An Inrrod~rctiotz ta Divine and Hunian Readings (New York: Columbia University Press, 1946), pp. 176-7. 8 Institutiones (2, 2, 16) 'In his third book the aforesaid Fortunatianus has made mention of the orator's memorization and of his delivery and manner of speaking; the monk wilt derive a certain advantage from this book, since it seems not improper for him to adapt to his own uses that which orators have profitably applied to disputaiion. Duly cautious, he will pay heed to memorization, as applied to divine reading, when he has learned its force and nature from the afore-mentioned book; he will, moreover, preserve a careful manner of speaking in chanting the psalms. Thus, though he be somewhat occupied by secular books, he will be restored to holy work upon the completion of his instruction.' Trans. by Leslie W. Jones, pp. 157-8. '1 'The art of mcmory is specifically an aid for speakers, not for learners, for cornposers, not for readers. This distinguishes it most clearly from the elementary rules of memory training.' Tlie Book of Meniory, p. 155. quoniam nupcrrimc dictum facile memoriae mandatur, utile est, cum diçere desinamus, recentcm aliquam rclinqucrc in ünimis auditorum bene firmam argumentationcm.'O He also States that there should be a summary in the conclusion for the purpose of refreshing the audience's memory. ' ' ct ordine ut quicquid crit dictum refcrcrnus, ut auditor, si memoriae mandavcrit ad idcm quod ipsc memincri t reducatur.'" In addition to the copious manuscript reproduction of classical rhetorical treatinents of memory and cornmentaries on this tradition, the twelfth century benefited from Hugh of Saint Victor's interest in memory theory. Hugh of Saint Victor deals with rnemory in the preface De Tribus Maximis Circurnstantiis Gestontrlt to his Chronica (1 130), in his 'art of reading', Didmculicon, and De arca Noe r~tystisticci.'~The De Tribus... is an elementary art of memory, addressed to young students of the cathedra1 school of Saint Victor in paris.'' The Dihscalicon, likewise, is an elernental rhetoric. Both works are extant in nuinerous manuscripts. l5 In considering the parallels between the poetic technique of the chttsom de geste and mnemonic principles, 1 shall take Hugh as my primary exemplum of rnedieval memory theory for the following reasons: Hugh's works are contemporary with many of the clzrinsons de geste; 'O III, x. 18. '...since what has becn said last is casily commilted to rnemory, it is useful, when ceasing to speak, to lcavc some very strong argument fresh in the hearer's miiid.' This statement is followed by a cornparison of thc orator's disposition of his speech to battle ranks: 'Haec dispositio locorum, tamquam instructio militum, facillime in diccndo, sicut illa in pugnando, parere poterit victoriarn.' ('This arrangement of topics in speaking. likc the arraying of soldiers in battle, can readily bring victory.') The metaphorical prcsentation of oratory as battle is famiIiar to us in the present day in the form of a mctaphorical exchange between the pen and the sword. See Ernst Robert Curtius, European Litertiture and the Latin Middle Ages, trans. by Willard R. Trrisk (New York: Pantheon, 1953), pp. 178-9. ' ' See Caplan, Of Eloquence, p. 2 12. l2 II. xxx. 47. 'We shall reproduce al1 the points in the order in which they have been prrsented, so that the hearer, if he has cornrnitted them to memory, is brought back to wtiat he remembers.' l3 Carruthers, The Book of Mernory p. 8 1. The De orca is a verbal depiction of a mnemonic image. See Zinn, 'Hugh of Saint Victor', pp. 228-32; Carruthers, pp. 43-5. 14 Edited by William M. Green, 'De tribus maximis circumstantiis gestorum' Speculuni 18 ( 1943) 484-93. For a translation of this preface, see Carruthers, The Book of Mernory, Appendix A, pp. 26 1-6. l5 There are 34 manuscripts of the De tribus ... and 125 of the Did Hugh's emphasis on memory in reception is of particular interest. 1 shall not argue that the cliansons de geste poets knew the work of Hugh of Saint Victor, or any of the classical treatises of memory." My argument is that there are parallels between the clinnsoit de geste structure and the way in which mnemonic treatises advised students to structure their mernories. Whether this indicates direct knowledge of the treatises, or the phenornenon of a general familiarity with elemental ninemonic priniciples wliich the poets may or may not have been able to associate with a name is beyond the scopr of this thesis. In the meinory writings of Hugh of Saint Victor, interest in audience receptivity and meinory is more prominent than the brief interest of the ancient treatises. For Hugh of Saint l6 There is, however, a possibility that the Rheroricu ad Herenrtium was known to at least one vcrnacular poet: the second author of the Romun de lu Rose, Jean dc Meung, who makes reference to Cicero's De inven~ione:'Si con Tulles le nous remcmbrc 1 Au livre dc sa Retorique / Qui mout est scïence autentique.' (vv. 16166-7) cd. Félix Lecoy, (Paris: Champion, 1965-70). Filix Lecoy identifies thc Reroriqrte as Cicero's De inventione rheroriccl in ri note on p. 302 where he explains that an anecdote about Zeuxis rccounted in the verses prcceding vv. 16 166-7 OC the Rose appears in Cicero's work. Howcver, in the Middle Agcs the De invenrione and the Rhetorica ad Herenrtium were copied together and referred to as the Old and New Rhetoric respectively since both works were attributed to Cicero at the time (sec Yaies, pp. 54-5). It is thus highly probable that a poct who knew the De inventiortr was famili6uwith the Rhetorica ad Herertnium. Also, in Guillaume de Lorris' part of the Rose the dreamer discovers a garden wali painted with images of the Virtues and Vices. The images are not oniy mnemonics for the vice or virtue they portray, but they are introduced as images which enter the dreamer / narrator's head as he remernbers: 'Les ymages et les paintures dou mur volentiers remirai; si vos conterai et dirai de ces ymages la semblance, si corn moi vient a remernbrance.' (vv. 134-6). This would suggcst an interpretation of the images as mnemonics patterned on the treatises' imaging tcchniques. Franccs Yates has suggested rhat Giotto's Virtues and Vices (probably painted about 1306) bear the influence of mnernonic imaging tcchniques (pp. 92-4). 80 Victor, rnnemonic techniques are closely associated with the reading process. He does not rzcornmend textud division solely for the purpose of memorisation: Modus legcndi in dividcndo constat." His short mnemonic treatise, De Tribits Maximis Circumstantiis Gestorwn, is a preface to the Chronicle of Biblical History, which is presented as an aid for the students reading / leaming this work? There is tantalising evidence to suggest links between the chcinsons de geste and the treatises. The three principal points of cornparison between the chartsons de geste and the memorisation techniques recommended by the memory treatises of Antiquity and the Middle Ages are division and collation of material, and visualisation and aurilisation. a) Division and collation In the first and second chapters 1 demonstrated that the chansons de geste divide into uni ts of various sizes. 1 argued that the audience is made aware of the divisions through repetitions and that certain aesthetic effects (eg. descriptive, dramatic, cornic) derive from audience collation of two or more units. The division of the poems and the consequent collating activity in which the audience engages has a parallel in mnemonic theory which 1 now present. In order to commit something to memory, one should divide it into units, recornmend the treatises. Hugh of St. Victor gives the following advice: 17 Didascalicon, ed. Brother Charles Henry Buttirner (Washington D. C.: The Catholic University Press, 1939), 3:9:25. 'The method of reading consists in dividing.' ''The Chronicle is set out on the manuscript pages in columns. The preface recommends that the students mentally divide the work as they read, and the manuscript presents the work in ready-made, visible divisions, thus facilitating the students' task. See The Book of Menlory, p. 8 1, pp. 93-4 and Green, De Tribus, pp. 492-3. Memoria enim semper gaudet et brevitatc in spatio et paucitate in numcro et propterea necesse cst ut, ubi scries Icctionis in longum tenditur, primum in pauca dividatur, ut quod anirnus spatio comprehendçre non potest saltern numcro con~~rehcndat." Collation is the necessary corollary of textual division. Once we have divided whatever we wish to remember into units, we proceed to collario. Hugh of St. Victor advises that we should collect together, or gather, (colligamus) in memory, the things which we have learned by dividing: ...sicut ingcnium dividcndo invcstigat et invcnit, ita mcmoria colligcndo custodit. oportct crgo ut, quac disccndo divisimus, commcndanda mcmoriac colligamus. Colligcrc cst ca dc quibus prolixius vel scriptum vcl dispiitatum cst ad brevcm quandam ct compcndiosam surnrnrim rcdigerc, quac a maiorihus epilogus, id est, brcvis rccapitulatio supradictorum appcllata cst." Hugh follows his statement concerning division and subsequent gathering, with a de finition of what he means: Colligere esr .... Hugh defines 'gathering' as 'reducing to a brief and compendious outline things which have been written or discussed at some length.'" Mary Carnithers argues that one must not assume that Hugh intended a reader to retain merely a summary of the reading material but that rather his rneaning is that 'one should break prolixity, a long text, into a number of short, securely retained segments which can be gathered in the mernory.'" The author of the Rketoricu rdHerenni~im encourages its readers as they read to reheiirse the clivisions he imposes on his materid: De quinta parte rhetoricae dcinceps dicemus. Tu primas quasque paries in animo frequcnta ct, quod maximc necesse est, cxercitatione c~nfirma.~ " 'De tribus', Green. p. 490, 11.6-9. Cited by Carruthers, The Book of Meniory, p. 83. 'For the memory always rcjoices in both brevity of length and fewness in number. and therefore it is neccssary, when the sequencc of your reading tends toward lengtli, that it first be divided into a few units, so that what the memory could not comprehcnd as a single expmse it crin comprehend at least in a number.' Trans. by Carruthcrs. 30 Didascalicon, 3: 1 1 :14- 19. 'just as ski11 investigates and discovers by dividing, so rneinory retains by gathering. It is necessary, therefore, to collect the gather the things which wc havc dividcd in the course of reading and which we must commit to memory. Gathering is reducing to a brief and compendious outline things which have been written or discussed at some length. The ancients cailed such an outline an epilogue, that is, a short statement by headings of things alrcady said.' Modified from the translation of Jerome Taylor, The Didascalicon of Hrrgh of Sr. Victoc A Medieval Glride to the Arts (New York: Columbia University Prcss, 1961). '' Trans. by Jerome Taylor. p. 93. Cited by Carruthers. The Book of Memory. p. 83. '' ibid. III, xxiv.40. '1 shall next discuss the fifth part of rhetoric. You might rehearse in your rnind each of the fini 4 divisions, and - what is especially necessary - fortify your knowledge of them with exercise.' Trans. by Harry Caplan, Ad Herenniirrn, p. 225. Ln later medieval arts of memory, the division of material remains an important consideration, for both performer and audience. The fourteenth-century English Dorninican Thomas of Waleys wrote: lndeed if only onc division of thc themc bc rnadc, still that division will bc bencficial as to thosc matters, as much for the preachcr ris for thc hcarcr ...... Whcn thc prcachcr dividcs thc thcmc and afterwards follows thc parts of the division in order and clearly, both the mattcr of the scrmon and thc form and manncr of the preaching is more casily understood and rctûined ...." The treatises speak of reading for memorisation as 'gathering'." Mary Carnithers glosses collutio as 'gathering' which 'builds up a network, a texture of associations to show a common theme.'26 The reader 'gathers' units of information together in a process sirnilar to that of the chcinson de geste audience's collation of narrative units and disjunctive echoes. When the poet of Raoul de Cambrai repeats the verse 'ma mere arcistes el mostier d'origni' of Bernier's discourse five times, the audience gathers together these units, distinguished through repetition and from this gathering emerges a network of associations which develops the theme of Bernier's wrath, and the shadow of revenge." The memory treatises recommend textual division and collation for the purposes of memorisation. The intention is that the person approaching the text to be rnemorised perî'orms both the textual division and the collation. In the case of the chansons de geste, the text has already been divided into units and the audience's part in the division is reduced to a sensitivity to the poets' delineations. Also, the result of the collation of the textual units of the chansons de geste is not merely memorisation, but aesthetic effect. '' Citcd Carruthers, p. 103. Carruthers comments: 'Of special interest in this advice is the assumption on Thomas of Waleys' pari that both the preacher and auditor relied on the numerical system for retaining discourse, for the key both to successful dilation and to retention is orderly division by number.' The Latin verb is colligere. '' The Book of Memory, p. 36. 27 See Chapter 2, pp. 56-8. 83 The textual division of the chansons de geste encourages in the audience collative activity which extends its effect beyond memorisation. This opens up the possibility that the chansoris de geste deploy mnemonic strategies to aesthetic ends. The suggestion that the mnemonic techniques of division and collation are significant beyond mere memorisation occurs briefly in Hugh of Saint Victor, as we have seen above, and more extensively in Augustine of Hippo. In Book X of the Confessions, where he discusses memory, Augustine speaks of thinking as being 'nothing else but by meditating to gather together those same things which the memory did before contain more scatteringly and confu~edl~."~The result of this gathering process, is new knowledge, which emerges from the juxtaposition of the elernents of old knowledge in memory. The new knowledge is not appended to the old, but is rather a dilation which permits of a more comprehensive understanding for Augustine, an understanding which brings him closer to God. The sum of the parts of his knowledge. brought together, produces new knowledge, which leads through the 'cavi' of his memory to God. In the example given above from Raoul de Cmnbrui, the series of repetitions produces the 'new knowledge' of the theme of Bernier's revenge. The dilation, in Augustinian terms, of the series of repetitions is its effect. The effect will be less apparent to whoever does not mentally note and gather the repetitions. Another example of the production of new knowledge through gathering together the various parts of a repeating series may be taken from Renaut de Montauban where a narrative matrix of Plight, Rescue, Retum emerges from a collatio of the Vaucouleurs and hanging episodes of the long ais ses.'^ From this discussion of collation in the chansons de geste and mnemonic theory emerge 28 Sr. Augustine's Confessions, ed. E. Capps, T. E. Page, W. H. D. Rouse, irans. William Watts, 2 vols (London: Heinemann, 1919), 1O.xi: 'ea quae passim ritque indisposite rnemoria continebai, cogitando quasi colligere atque aniinadvertendo'. See Carruthers' discussion of the Augustinian collectio, The Book of Memory, pp. 198-9. " See Chapter 1, pp. 28-33. 84 four points. Firstly, we have seen that the audience of the chansons de geste participates in the poems through the collation of textuai units. Secondly, we have aiso seen that the division and collation of units of text is one of the principal mnemonic techniques. Thirdly, in most examples of collation, the audience exercises its mernory, since collation involves recalling a unit, or several units which are triggered by the repetition of a verse(s) in the unit presently receiving the audience's attention. Finally, the result of collation in the clzansom de geste is not rnerely memorisation, but the production of aesthetic effect. b) Visualisation and aurilisation Seeing and hearing are closely associated with memory in the medieval mnemonic tradition, in modern cognitive science, but also in the vernacular literature of the Middle Ages. At the beginning of his Bestiaire d'nnzoctrs, Richard de Foumival identifies veoir and oïr as the doors to memory3? ...Dcx qi tant airnc homc q'il Ic vint porvcoir dc quanquc mesticrs li cst, a doun6 à homc unc manicrc dc forcc qui a non MEMOIRE. Ccstc mcrnoirc si a 2 portcs, veoir ct oïr, ct h chascunc dc ccs 2 portcs si a 1 chemin par où on i puet alcr: PAINTURE ci PAROLE. Painturc sicrt à oc1 et parofc à oreillc; et corncnt on puet repairicr à sa meson mcmoirc, qui cst la garde des trcsors qi scns donc et conquiert par forcc d'cngicn, fait cc qui est trespassk aussi corne prcscni. Et parcc mcisrnc i vicnt-on ou par painturc ou par parole. Car quant on voit une estoirc ou dc Troic ou autrc, on voit les fès dcs prcudomcs qi qh cn arricrc furent, aussi corn s'ils fussent present; ct ainsi est4 dc parole: car quant on oi 1 roumans lire, on entcnt Ics aventures aussi com s'cles fusscnt emprcscnt. Et puis c'on fait present de ce qi est trespassC, par ccs 3 choses puet-on à mémoire venir." Richard presents his bestiary to his lady in words and pictures, hoping to accede to her memory ihrorigh veoir and ok3' 'O Richard de Fournival's Bestiaire d'amours was cornposed during the second quarter of the thirteenih century. Sec Sylvia Huot, Front Song to Book: The Poetics of Writirig in Oll French Lyric and Lyrical Narrative Poetry (Ithaca: Corne11 University Press. 1987) p. 135. " Le Bestiaire d'aniour suivi de la réponse de la diame enrichi de 48 dessins gravés sltr bois publiés pour la première fois d'après le manuscrit de la Bibliothèqlte Impériale par C. Hippeau, (Paris: 1860; Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, t 969) p. 2. 32 For a discussion of Richard de Fournival's 'audiovisual poetics', see Huot, pp. 130-3. The Bestuire d'amour rimé, a reworking in rhynied couplets of Richard de Fournival's Bestiaire d'amours, survives in a single manuscript, Bibl. Nat. fr. 195 1, copied c. 1300. Huot draws attention to the fact that 'the pocm is headed by a 85 In the chansons de geste, veoir and oïr are connected to memory in the veïssiez / oïssiez formulae which associate seeing and hearing with remembering. Before looking at these formulae, 1 shall review the connection which the ancient and medieval mnemonic tradition makes between memory and visualisation. The association between visualisation and memory goes back to Cicero, who in De Orarore attributes to the poet Simonides of Ceos, to whom is accredited the invention of the art of memory, the insight that: ca maximc animis adfigi nostris, quac csscnt a sensu tradita atque imprcssa; accrrimum autcm cx omnibus nostris scnsibus cssc scnsum vidcndi; quarc facillirnc animo tcncri possc si en, quac pcrcipcrcntur auribus aut cogitationc, dam commcndationc oculorum animis tradcrcntur." According to the legend which recounts how Simonides first discovered the principles of mnemonic theory, the process of visualisation served to recall images of the guests present at Scopas' banquet. At this stage, the association between visualisation and memory was a straightforward statement that what is seen is easily remembered. From this point onwards the association between seeing and memory develops, becoming more sophisticated. An association between pictures and words is one of the first developments, followed by a strütegy of visualisation which actively creates images for the purpose of remernbering. Visualisation becomes less a mechanism of retrieval than a creative endeavour." The later medieval tradition reflects the technique of creating images specifically as mnemonic aids, which is advocated by picture of a lady holding a palm branch and standing bctween two doors, one marked with an cye and one with an ear. The whole would seem to represent Memory who is reached through the paths of veir and oïr.'Huot, p. 159. 33 II, Ixxxxvii, 357. ed. Giuseppe Porta (Florence: La Nuova Italia Editrice, 1970). Cited by Yaks in this translation: '...the most complete pictures are formed in our minds of the things that have been conveyed to [hem by the senses, but that the keenest of al1 our senses is the sense of sight, and that consequently perceptions received by the ears or by reflexion can be most easily retaincd if they are also conveyed to our minds by the mediation of the eyes.' The Art of Memory, p. 4. '' Frances Yates proposes that much medieval and Renaissance art is influenced by irnagery from the mnemonic traditions:'The art of memory was a creator of imagery which rnust surely have flowed out into the creative works of art and literature.' The Art of Memory, p. 9 1. Cicero and ~uintilian.~'Thomas Bradwardine, for example, advises that one should create images of what one wishes to remember, and these images should be as vivid as possible: Their quality truly should be wondrous and intense, because such things are impressed in memory more deeply and are better retained. However such things rire for the most port not average but cxtrernes, ris the most beautiful or ugly, joyous or sad, worthy of respect or sornething ridiculous for mocking. a thing of grerit dignity or vileness, or woltrrded wirlt grenrly opened wotoirls witii a rentnrknble livelyjlowiri,p of blood, or in another way made extremely ugly, strange of clothing and al1 biwrre of ecpripr~irrir,the color also very brilliant and intense, such ris intense, fiery red, and the whole color strongly altering the apperirance. The whole image also should have sonie orlier Jetai1 or niovettierit, rltnt hsniore effectively rlioti rltrorrgli diut is roirti~icor ot rat. they may be commended to memory.'" Bradwardine's instructions for creating mnemonic images are vivid word pictures, which illustrate the potential of words to evoke images, which is one of two associütions between memory and letten in the rnnemonic tradition. From the very beginni ngs of mnemonic theory, visualisation was associated wi th letters. Also üttributed to Simonides, this time by Plutarch, is the observation that the methods of poetry can be equated with those of painting. This theory has been summarised by Horace in the famous phrase: ut picturu poesis.37 Plutarc h asserts that Simonides 'cal led painting si lent poetry and poetry painting that speaks; for the actions which painters depict as they are being perfomed, words descri be after they are d~ne.'~~ Letters relate to visualisation in two ways: images are read as if they were letters: imaginibus vero quasi litteris rerum recordatio continet~r.'~ " Yates, The An of Meniory, pp. 82-104. '' De Mrniorio Artfiioli, Thomas Bradwardine. Carruthers. The Book ofMettiory, Appendix C. p. 282. Thomas Brridwardine insists on the power of visual mernory, which is comparable to sight: 'Indeed memory is most powerfully affected by sensory impression, most strongly by vision; wherefore something occurs in rnernory as it customarily occurs in seeing.' p. 28 1. " Yaies, p. 28. See also R. W. Lee. 'Ut pictitra poesis. The Humanistic Theory of Painting,' An Bulletin XXIJ (1940), p. 197. 3a Yaies. p. 28. 39 Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Plrilologiae et Merciirii, ed. Adolf. Dick. (Leipzig: 1925; repr. Stuttgart: Teubner. 1969), V: 538, 12-13, p. 269. 'The remembrance of things is held by the images as though they were letters.' Trans. by Yates, The Art of Mentory, p. 5 1. This perspective emphasises the pictoriai quality of writing, and appears in Hugh of St. Victor's preface to the Chronicon in his practical advice to students to aid memorisation by focusing on manuscript layout.40 Secondly, words produce images: Littcrae autcrn, id cst figurae primo vocum indices sunt, deindc rcrum, quas anirnac pcr oculorum fencstras opponunt, ct frcqiientcr abscntium dicta sinc voce loquuntur? Here it is the evocative power of words to conjure images, and not the pictorial quality of the letters themselves which is important. Hugh of St. Victor encourages his readers to visualise from the stming point of his descriptions: Siqiiidcm in archa cordis tcmpus ct numerus longitudincm mctiuniur, arcani in Iatitudincm cxpandit locus, ut dcindc cctcra disponantur locis suis. Primus igitur pcrsonas cum tcmporibus suis ordinc disponcmus, in longitudincm tinearn ab cxordio porrigcntes. Dcindc loca ctiam dcsignabimus quantum capacitas adbrcviationis patictur sufficienter ex universitate co~lccta.~' This technique of presenting something verbally for visualisation is one of the most c haracteristic features of twelfth-century pedagogy.43There are manuscripts w hic h are peppered with the indication 'pictura' which solicits visualisation from the reader, in the same way as the imperative 'nota' which is more farniliar to the twentieth-century reader in the form N.B.'" One - - 'O '~ulturncrgo valet ad mcmoriam confirmandam ut, cum libros legimus, non solum numcrum et ordinem versuum vel sentcntiarum, sed etiam ipsum colorem et formam simul ct siium positionemquc littcrarum pcr imaginationem mcrnoriae imprimere studeamus, ubi illud et ubi illud scripturn vidimus, qua parte, quo loco (suppremo, mcdio, vel imo) constituturn aspcximus, quo colore tractum Iittcrac vcl faciem mcmbranac ornatcm intuiti sumus.' De tribus niarimis circrrmstanriis gesionrm, 11. 19-25. '' John of Salisbury, Metalogicon, citcd by Carruthers, The Book of Memory, p. 28, p. 295, n. 46. 'Lettccs howcvcr, that is their shapcs [figurae], are in the tïrst place signs of words; thcn of things, which they bring to thc mind through thc windows of the eyes, and frequently thcy speak silently the sayings of those no longcr prcsent.' Trans. by Carruthers. 12 De tribus, p. 491, 11. 24-9. 'While time and number measurc off the long side in the chest of mcmory, place cxtends the arca transversely, so that, following along sequentially, the rest of the material may bc disposcd in its places. First, thercforc, we will placc our pcrsons with their dates in order, cxtending them from thc beginning dong the long side of the grid. Next, we will mark off our places adequately to whatever number the extent of Our summary, gathercd up out of al1 the material, will rcquire.' Trans. by Carruthers, Appendix A, p. 265. Grover A. Zinn deveiops this line of argument, commenting on the passagc quoted that '...Hugh means for the reader to visuaiize a diagram, filling it with locations to the maximum extent possible by the use of abbrcviaiions.' 'Hugh of Saint Victor', p. 228. 43 .... which cornes to us chiefly in the form of Biblical commentary, sermons and rneditrttional works ... the describing of mental picturcs that are often, but not always, like diagrams which serve to consolidate, sumrnarize and "fix" the main contents of the commentational text.' Carruthers, The Book of Memory, p. 23 1. Carruthers, p. 108. 88 famous example of a verbally presented diagram is Hugh of St. Victor's Arca de Noe Mord in which case a detailed drawing of the described iconographic prograrn exists? The connection between memory and visualisation is part of what cognitive scientists refer to as the pictrtre-superiority effect. This is the observation that pictures are remembered better than words. R. N. Shepard conducted an experiment which involved showing 6 12 colour pictures of common settings to individu al^.'^ hmediateiy after, the individuals were shown two pictures simultaneously and asked to pick out which of the two had been seen in the previous stage of the experiment. The individuals were correct in about 97% of the cases. Another group looked at words rather than pictures and recognised only 88% of the words. Memory for pictures is clearly s~~erior.'~ In the case of mnemonic activity we are not dealing with real pictures, but with mentally constructed images. The picture-superiority effect, however, is evident for both material and mental images. When M. Marschark presented undergraduates with stories which were similar in structure and length, but differed in the degree of imagery they aroused, they recalled twice as much from the high-imagery paragraphs as from the low-imagery paragraphs when the paragraphs were presented in a random order? This effect was not observed when the paragraphs were presented in their normal order. Marschark concludes that imagery aids recall because it organises into an integrated whole separate items of information. '' Grover A. Zinn, 'Hugh of Saint Victor' pp. 228-34. Zinn conunents that, 'The ark and map are only part of a complex drawing that represcnts Hugh's mystical theology in visual form', p. 229. 4 6 R. N. Shepard, 'Recognition Memory for Words, Sentences, and Pictures', Juumul of Verbal Learning nrrd Verbal Behavior, 6 (1967), 156-63. " The picture-superiority effect is found even if the memory test invoives simply the names of the pictures rather than the pictures thernselves. 48 M. Marschark, 'Imagery and organization in the recall of prose.' Joirrrtul of Verbal Leczrriirig und Verbal Behcvior, 24 (1985), 734-45. Cited by David C. Rubin, Memory irt Oral Traditions, p. 55. 89 From the results of Shepard's and Marschark's experiments we can ascertain that images, whether they are presented pictoridl y or verbally, significantl y aid recall. Modem psychology supports the mnemonic treatises' emphasis on visualisation as an aid to memory. The familiar uI veiasez fomulae of the chansons de geste make an explicit association between memory and visualisation. In addition to the veïssez formulae. a series of oi3siez fomulae. which associate hearing and remembering, suggest a process of mental recreation of sounds, which parallels the visualisation of the veïssez formulae, and to which 1 shall refer as aurilisation. AI though the veïssez 1 oïssiez phrases are part of the formulait vocabulary of the poems. they appear to be appeals to audience rnem~ry"~ The veïssez formulae are conditional structures, qui veikr 1 veïssiez, which posit memory as a consequence li peiist renieribrer 1 vos peiist remenhrer: 3 Qui vcïst ccs haubcrs ct rollcr ct blanchir Et ccs lances fcrrcr ct ccs cscus forbir, Ces gonfanons fcrrncr ct ces hantcs brandir, Ces chcvaliers noviaus sur ccs chcvaus bordir, Ccs dcstricrs d*Arragonc et corrc ct porsiaillir, De rnout trcsfierc guerre li peüst sovenir! (Florence de Rome, vv. 877-82)" b Qi(l) li vcïst son cscu manocir, dcstrc et senestre au branc les rens scrchier, bien Ii menbrast de hardi chevalier; (Raoul de Canihrui, vv. 2528-30) c Ses veïssicz cncontrcniont errer, De male gent vos pcüst rcmcnbrcr! (Charroi de Nhes, 1027-8) d Qui dont veïst Ics vilains del regné Tonnerius loier, refere ct enfonser, Et cez gram chrus retorner et verser, Dedenz les tonnes les chevaliers entrer, De grant barnage Ii pcüst remenbrer. (Charroi de Nîmes, vv. 983-7)'' " Anne Iker Gittleman, Le Style Épiqae refers to the veïssez formula as a mot-outil which occurs frequently in battle and funeral scenes, pp. 143, 154. See also p. 303 (Appendice II) for Gittleman's list of the La oissiet/ veïssez and qui donc veïst / oïst formulae in Garin Le Loherain. ed. A. Wallenskdd, 2 vols (Paris: Firrnin-Didot, 1909). " Examples c and d from the Charroi de Nhes differ Born the other examples since they seem to be parodic renditions of a formula which usually occurs in a heroic coniext. These are the earliest examples of the formula known to me. e Qui veïst jouglaors du pals assemblcr!... Qui a ce1 jor oïst vieler c tromper, Tabors e chalemiaux e estnimens sonner, Dc mcrveillcusc joie li pcüst rcmenbrer. (Aye d'Avignori, v. 4099; vv. 4103-5) f Que donqucs !'i veïst a son chatel torner, Dc mout bone mcsnïe Ii peüst rcmembrcr. (Florence de Rome, vv. 433 1-2) These verses constnict a simple association between visualisation and memory: 'whoever would have seen ... could have remembered', or 'if you had seen ...y ou could have remembered', which parallels the association between visualisation and rnernory in the mernory treatises. In addition to the qui vei'st / veïssiez 1 fi peiisf remenbrer / vos peiiît remenbrrr verses, there occur veiksier addresses which appear to be a tnincated version of the former: g En la prcssc se ficrent cnscmcnt comme lous, La vcïssiis bataille CL mcrvellous csiour, Volcr sanc ci ccrvcllc comme plcuc qui court. (Elie de Sairlr Gille, vv. 648-50) h La vcïssicz maint riche garnement, maint pavcillon qui fu tcnduz au vcnt, ct maint pcnon ou li fins ors rcsplent. (Grrrin Le Lndierenc, vv. 142 1-3) I Et vcïssicz ces granz singcs saillir! (Garin Le Loherertc, v. 1559) While these veïssiez verses do not make an explicit connection between visualisation and mernory like the examples a-f quoied above, they use very striking imagery, which is consonant with the treatises' advice on how to create mnernonic images. Thomas Bradwardine's guidelines for the creation of mnemonic images, quoted above, specify three very precise aspects of visualisation. Exümples of each of these aspects occur in the details of description in examples a-i above. Bradwardine suggests the visualisation of open wounds and copious blood- flow. This is exactly the detail which appears in example g. He also suggests that the image should be 'al1 bizarre of equipment', or involve some movernent? Exmples a, b, and d are composed of a string of verbs which describe vigorous movement. Exarnples a and e emphasise 'equipment': weapons and mour in the first case, and tents and pavillions in the second. '' Bradwardinc's emphasis on the moving images is in the tradition of the imagines ngrnres of the Ad Herennirm, (111, xxii). Thomas is particularly emphatic that the image should not be ordinary. Nothing could be less 'routine' than the huge monkeys which jump out at the warriors in example i. A third variant of this formula substitutes qui oïst / oïssiez for qui veïst I veiksiez. We have encountered this variation in a hybrid form in example e above, where the poei conflates the qui veist of the qui veïst ... li peüst remenbrer formula with qui oïst. The oissiez verses appeal to audience aurilisation rather than visualisation. a Lors oïssiez ccs sainz partot soncr, de gant pitié vos pcüst rcmenbrcr! (Carin Le L>lrerenc vv. 160-2)" b La oïssicz cors soncr ct glatir, ccz olifans, ccz buisincs tcntir, ct cçz somicrs, ccz charrctcs garnir dc pain, dc vin, por lor cors garantir. (Ccrrirz Le Loherertc, vv. 1540-3) These qui oïsr / oïssiez verses associate aurilisation and memory in the same way as the qlîi veïst / veïssiez verses associate visualisation and memory. In spite of the fact that there is an explicit link in oissiet .... vos peüst rrmcnbmr between aurilisation and memory, there is no parallel with the mnemonic treatises, as in the case of visualisation. However. the inclusion of the aura1 faculty in the memorisaiion process is not strange to the memory treatises. in a twelfth-century commentas, on Martianus Capella's De Niiptiis Philologiac et Mcrcurii, aitributed to Bernard Silvestris, memory is ponrayed as a goddess who preserves what has been heard: Memoria est dea que conxrvat a~dita.~'' The mnemonic treatises seem to privilege visualisation. Perhaps this demonstrates an underlying theory that everything which is transrnitted to memory acquires a visual form? The *' ed. Anne Ikcr-Gittleman (Paris: Champion. 1996). 54 The Comnterttuty on Marrianus Capella's 'De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii' Atrribrmd to Bernard Silvestris, ed. Haijo Jan Westra, (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1986), v. 1085. 'Memory is the goddess who preserves the things which have bcen heard.' 55 According to the Greek tradition, al1 perceptions are presented to the mind as plrantasm~ira,'representations' or 'a kind of eikbn', Carruthers, p. 17. Cf. Augustine, Corfessions, X: 8, 'nec ipsa tamen intrmt, sed rerum sensarum imagines illic praesto sunt cogitationi reminisçentis eas'. Carruthers çomrnents on auditory memory requiring a poets of the chansons de geste, however, are eager to convey, and encourage the audience to imaginatively recreate, both the visual and the aura1 aspects of a particular scene? As poets of an originally oral poetry, whether or not it was at the time of any particular composition, they must have been especially sensitive to the qualities of sound. Carnithers points out that the medieval memory advice stresses synaesthesia in creating a memory-image. The image is frequently considered to speak, or sing, it may even emit an ~dour.'~Augustine of Hippo seems to present an explanation of memory which privileges the image and visualisation and yet he asks: quac [imagines] quornodo fabricatac sint, quis dicit, cum apparcat, quibus scnsibus rliptac sint intcriusquc rcconditac? nam et in tencbris aiquc in silcntio dum habito, in mcmoria mca profcro, si volo, çolorcs, et disccrno inter album ct nigrum ct inter quos alios volo, ncc incurrunt soni atque pçrturbant quocl pcr oculos haustum considcro, cum ct ipsi ibi sint et quasi scorsum rcpositi latcant. narn et ipsos posco, si placet, atquc adsunt illico, ct quicsccntc lingua ac silcntc gutturc canto quantum volo, imagincsque illac colorum, quac nihilo minus ihi sunt, non SC interponunt ncquc intcrrumpunt, cum thesaurus dius rctractatur, qui influxit ab auribus. ita cetera, qiiae pcr scnsus cctcros ingcsta atquc congcsta sunt, rccordor prout libet ct auram liliorum disccrno a violis nihil olfacicns, ct mcl dçfrito, lenc aspcro, nihil tum gustando ncquc contractando, scd rerniniscendo ant~~ono.~~ Memory is a sensual experience which reproduces the immediacy and intensity of sights, sounds and scents. When the chansons de geste go beyond the association of memory and visualisation of the mnemonic treatises and associate aurilisation with memory in the qui oiât / visual form, pp. 27-8, 945: 'Hugh as well insists that acoustically received material must be translatcd to visual terms and su fixed in mcmory.' The Book of Mrtrrory, p. 95. The veissiez 1 qui veist 1 oissiez addresses are not the only ones which encourage visualisation on the part of the audience. Richard Glasscr gives this example of the use of 'unches': Tenez mun helme, unchcs mcillor ne vi (Chanson de Roland, v. 629), which hc interprets as 'an appeal to the fantasy and power of imagination of the iistener... an expression of naive, unhistorical admiration of what never existed.' Tirrie iri Frerich Life and Thoughr, trans. by C. G. Pearson (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1972), p. 37. 57 The Book of Menrory, p. 78. Carruthers relates this synaesthesia to Aristotle's description of the sertsus cornmunis which processed information from al1 five scnses in the formation of a mernory-image. 58 Confessiones, X, 8: '...but who can tell how the images themselves are formed? Even when 1 am in darkness and in silence 1 can, if 1 wish, picture colours in my memory. 1 can distinguish betwcen black and white and any other colours that 1 wish. And while 1 reflect upon them, sounds do not break in and confuse the images of colour, which reached me through the eye. Yet my memory holds sounds as well, though it stores them separately. If 1 wish, 1 cm summon them too. They corne forward at once, so that I can sing as much as 1 want, even though my tongue does not move and my throai utters no sound. And when 1 recall into my mind this rich reserve of sound, ivhich enrered my memory through my ears, the images of colour, which are also there in my memory, do not interfere or intrude. In the same way I can recall at will al1 the other things which my other senses brought into my memory and deposited in it. 1 can distinguish the scent of Mies from that of violets, even though there is no scent ai al1 in my nostrils, and simply by using my mernory I recognize that 1 tike honey better than wine and smooth things better 93 oïssiez verses, they corne close to this Augustinian perception of memory as a recreated, sensual experience. In the discussion which follows, the qui d'sr /oïssiez should be understood as a variant of the qui veïst 1 veïssiez verses, even when 1 do not refer explicitly to them. Whether the verses following the conditional verbs appeal to a process of visualisation or aurilisation, both formulations involve the audience, or a hypothetical qui in a recreation of sensual stimulae which. according to the formulae, is associated with memory. The interest of the qui veïst lveïssiez verses is that they induce visualisation in the audience which according to the logic of the qui veïst / veïssiez 1 li peiist rernenbrer / vos peiist renieribrer equation should lead to audience memory. Visualisation, like collation, is a means of audience participation in the creation of the poem. There are two possible visualisation scenarios for the audience of the chnnsoi~sde geste: either the audience had engaged in the kinds of battles described by the poems, and thus the invitation to visualisation would have been a cue to the retrieval of persona1 rnemories; or the audience did not have experience of battle, and the act of visiidisaiion therefore would have been an imaginative effort. in both cases, the act of visualisation, whether or not it is accompanied by the retrieval of persona1 mernories, impresses on the audience's memory the image conjured, either by recall, or imagination, recreation, or creation, at the particular points in the poem when the audience is called upon to engage in visualisation. The qui veïst 1 veïssiez verses appear to deploy the strategies of mnemonic theory by presenting the audience with verbal images to visualise which, according to the logic established by the qui veïst 1 veïssiez - li peüst remenbrer 1 vos peüst rernenbrer formulae, will result in audience memory. These verses, however, are not simply exemplifications of the than rough ones, although at that moment 1 neither taste nor touch anything.' Trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin, ancient and medieval mnemonic art. In two respects the chansons de geste go beyond the mnemonic theory of memory and visualisation in creating an environment for audience memory in ways which become apparent in the light of modem psychology. We have encountered above Marschark's theory that imagery aids recall because t imposes order by bringing together in a integrated whole separate pieces of information. in the experiment to which 1 have referred, high-imagery as opposed to low-imagery conteni helped undergraduates to recall paragraphs of a narrative presented in a random order. In the case of the chonsons de geste the high-imagery verses enclosed in the qui vei3t / veïssiez formulae occur in contexts of low narrative organisation. Nearly al1 the qui veist / veiksiez verses occur in the context of ü battle. Of the seven randomly selected examples quoted above, five are from battle scenes. The battle scenes of the chansons de gare are frequently long and repetitive. Although these scenes may be highly structured in terms of laisse structure, frequently they create an impression of narrative disorder. Duels, deaths and attacks follow one after another in what is more akin to a pastiche than a narrative. The effect of the qui veist / veïssiez verses is to induce visualisation of high-irnagery scenes in the audience, which will be remembered easiiy and which will functioii as representative, summarising icons of the long battle descriptions. The high imagery content of the qui veikt / veïssiez verses acts as an icon which attracts the disparate elements of the battle description and maintains them in an integrated whole. This effect is reinforced by the interpolative effect of the qui veïst / veïssiez verses. By introducing the outside perspective of an observer, whether this be an unspecified qui as in the case of qui veïst or the audience of the poem as in the case of veïssiez, they interrupt the narrative. This causes the audience to pause in the rniddle of the battle description, to step back, (Hmondsworth: Penguin, 196 1). 95 and to place against the general background of battle the graphic details of a verbal image which then becomes a focus for the rest of the description. This effect of visualisation which aids recall by integrating disparate elements of a poem in a surnmarising, focal image is not recognised by the mnemonic treatises. The effect of the qui veïst / veïssiez verses can be understood in ternis of narrative rhythm. The induction into visualisation, and the sudden shift from the diegetic to the extra-diegetic effected through the direct address to the audience creates a deceleration in narrative rhythm which contributes to focusing audience attention, thus creating an environment favourable to memory. This phenomenon of sudden narrative arrest is analogous to changes in narrative rhythm which Heinemann has discerned when repetitions cause acceleration or deceleration of the narrative rhythm? The second way in which the chrrnsons de geste extend the medieval rnnemonic theory concerning memory and visualisation, and which becomes apparent in the light of modem psychological studies, is relevant only to the veïssiez verses. These verses combine imagery and audience involvement to create an environment especially favorable to memorisation. The veïssisirz verses address the audience directly and thus establish an apparently one-sided dialogue with the audience." Through these direct addresses, the audience becomes 'involved' in the poem. 'Involvement' is used here in W. L. Chafe's sense, which indicates subjectivity characterised by dialogue and the use of the first person.61The fact that the poems manipulate 5' L'Art métrique, pp. 9 1-5. Apparently one-sided because the audience responds to the addresses, although the audience response is no1 recorded in the text. '' W. L. Chafe, 'Inteption and Involvement in Speaking, Writing and Oral Literature' in Spoken and Written hng~tage:Erploring Orality and Literacy, ed. Deborah Tannen, (Norwood, N. J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1982) 35-53. Chafe sees 'involvement' as one of the main characteristics of oral language. 'Marking deviation from normal conversational rcsponse, Keenan, Macwhinney and Mayhew found that recognition rnemory for naturally occurring conversational statements was better when the staternents were of a high interactional content....' Mark H. Ashcroft, Htrmun Mentory and Cognitiori (Glenview, Illinois; Boston; London: Scott Foresman and Company, 1989) p. 46 1. 96 audience involvement in the same verses which present the audience with striking imagery is significant from the point of view of modem memory theory. There is an intimate relationship between imagery and 'involvement' in the area of human memory. W. F. Brewer reports that people are more likely to consider their memory to be veridical if they have an accompanying mentai image. This leads Brewer to see the defining characteristic of autobiographical memory as the presence of an accompanying image? In other words, when memory is accompanied by an image, the result is involvement. If an individual is presented with high imagery scenes in ü situation where there is a degree of personal involvement, then there is a high probability that he / she will have good recall of the event. This is borne out by observations on Americans' memory of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Almost al1 Americans in a certain age group can recall not only the assassination. and its date, but also what they were doing at the particular moment when they first heard about the assas~ination.~~The combination of dramatic events and imagery (television, newspapers, radio reports sketching verbally graphic images) and the intrusion of this imagery into their iives, their 'involvement' with it, have made the assassination of Kennedy such a mernorable event for many Americans that they situate their own autobiographical memories with reference to it. According to the modern psychological understanding of the close relationship between rnemory, imagery and involvement, the combination of imagery and involvement in the veïssiez verses creates an environment which is highly conducive to memorisation. The chansons de 'Whai is Autobiographical Mernory?' in Autobiographical Meniory, ed. David Rubin, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 25-49. 'Involvement' and accompanying images appear to be present when one seems to be reliving an experience, See David B. Pillemer, 'Remembering Personal Circumstances: A Functional Analysis' in Affect arid Acctrracy in Recall: Studies of 'Flashbulb' Menteries, eds. Eugene Winograd, Ulric Neisser (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 236-64. " Norman R. Brown, Steven K. Shevell, and Lance 1. Rips, 'Public Mernories and Their Personal Context', in Autobiographical Mentory, 137-58. 97 geste poets appear to have been sensitive to the conditions necessary to memory and memorisation. If the ancient and medieval theorists of memory had obsewed this relationship between imagery and involvement, they did not incorporate i t into their rnnemonic techniques. Unless it were possible to devise an experiment which would test audience recüll of clrarisoiis de geste, it would be difficult to know to what extent the visualisation and involvement induced in the audience by the vei:ssiez verses leads to memory. However, there is one interesting observation which can be made on the evidence of existing research. Often the clim~somde geste are categorised as poems of war, and yet, as Micheline de Combarieu du Grès has pointed out, descriptioiis of war, battles, fighting, duels do not constitute the greatest part of the poems in tcrms of the number of verses." The ovenvhelming impression that the clza>isoiude geste primarily relate the events of war may be related to audience participation through visualisation in the battle scenes." The combination of the direct addresses to the audience, the use of the veïssiez forrnulae and the guided visualisation, which occurs most frequently in battle scenes, makes these pans of the poems highly memorable and thus inevitably highlights thern. This discussion of collation and visualisation / audisation in the mnemonic treatises and the chansons de geste suggests the possibility that the epic poets were familiar with the methods of the mnemonic treatises. However, the interesting point is not so much this possibility of an association between the chansons de geste and mnemonic theory, but the fact that the poems, using methods which appear to be based on the advice of mnemonic treatises, activate audience 6, Daniel Poirion writes, '...ce qui distingue, malgré tout, les chansons de geste, c'est leur thématique guerrière, et cette constatation nous amène 5 penser que le genre joue, par rapport ii la noblesse, un rôle privilégié.'Pre'cis, p. 58. Micheline de Combarieu du Grès argues that the council scenes are more prominent than war scenes. In the case of the Occitan epic Girnrt de Roirssillon 195 of the 674 laisses describe coiincil scenes, and merely 80 narrate battles and sieges. L 'lleal Iaurnain et 1 'expérience rriorale chez les héros des chansons de geste des origines à 1250,2 vols (Aix-en-Provence:Universid de Provence; Paris: Champion, 1979) II, p. 666. '' '...Le aspects of a story that might be most important in the theme might also be most important in the images formed by the story.' Rubin, Memory in Oral Traditioris, p. 53. 98 memory. The clmnsons de geste do not simply recognise an association between memory and visualisation, they actively involve their audiences in visualisation which may induce memory, or cue recall of previous experience. Likewise, the process of collation in the chansons de geste is not just a gathering of units of narrative material; it is a gathering which exercises audience memory, since it is based on recognition of repetition. If the chnnsons de geste are using rhetorical strategies to activate audience memory which are based on the techniques of the mnemonic treatises, then it is important to recognise that the poems develop these techniques in new directions. Firstly, in the case of collation, when a poem's audience gathers together repeating verses or passages, the result is not mere memory, as is the intention behind division and collation in the treatises, but an aesthetic effect. Secondly, the poems suggest an association between aurilisation and rnemory which develops the treatises' association of visualisation and memory. Thirdly, the vek~iezformulae reinforce the rnnemonic effects of visualisation by introducing an element of involvement. The clicinsons de geste appear to be applying rnnemonic principles to poetry and developing them as rhetorical tools. c) Images from the mnemonic tradition in some chanson de geste prologues In addition to division, collation, and visualisation, the three principal points of association between the chansons de geste and the ancient and medieval memory techniques, there are further points of comparison which concem less the general pnnciples of chanson de geste aesthetics and memory theory than how these were perceived and represented. The prologues to the cl~ansonsde geste are thematically concemed with memory, and occasionally employ well-known memory metaphors in addition to direct references to memory, such as those noted in the introd~ction.~~Several prologues contain more oblique references which employ imagery from the mnemonic tradition of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Some of the medieval metaphors for memory originate in ancient descriptions of memory: for Augustine of Hippo. memory is a chamber, for the author of the Rhetorica ad Herentri~tni,it is a treasury, or it can be represented by wax tablets, or books!' Other metaphors for rnemory originate in the arts of rnnemonics: for example, the tree, hunting, and traces? Virtually al1 of 66 The tradition of rcfcrring to mcmory in the prologucs of pocms is a tradition which can bc traccd bück to the ancicnt Grccks who invokcd Mncmosync, thc mothcr of thc Muscs. Scc Caplan, Of Eloqiience, p. 200; Jamcs A. Notopoulos, 'Mncmosync in Oral Litcraturc', Trunsacrioris of the Aniericari Philological Associcitiorr, 69 ( 1938), 465-93, 'Whcn Grcck oral litcraturc was committcd to writing WC find cmbcddcd in it the mention of Mncmosync, which is thc pcrsonification of an important and vital forcc in oral composition.' p ,465. Mention of Mncmosync occurs in Orphcus' hymn, no. 77 (no. 76 is to the Muscs), Wilhclm Qurindt (cd.) Hyrnrii Orphei (Berlin: Wcidmann, 1955) ancl in Solon's tirst clcgy thcrc is an invocation of Mncmosync and Zeus Olympias' noblc childrcn, thc Muscs, Mnenioryries kai Zenos Olyrripioir cifilm tekna / Motrsni Pierides, kirrie moi errxonienoi, v. 1, Notopoulos, p. 467. According to Philostratus (third ccntury B. C.), Apollonius of Tyana (first ccntury A. D.) uscd to chant a hymn addrcsscd to mcmory, Caplan, Of Elot-rtence, p. 2 18. " Thc most influential exposition in thc Middlc Agcs of the metaphor ofthe charnbcr of mcmory is found in Augustine's Confessioits whcrc it occurs frcqucntly, for cxaniplc: 'Magna ista vis cst rncmoriac, magna nimis, Dcus meus, pcnctralc amplum ct infinitum. Quis ad fundum cius pcrvcni t?', Corfessiorres 10.8, ( 'Grcai is thc forcc of mcmory, cnormously great, my God, a chambcr vast and infinitc. Who has evcr soundcd its dcpths?' trans. Patrick Gcary, Pilcintonis ofiterrientbrurice, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), p. 16). Hugh of St.Victor prcsents the image of mcmory as a trcasury: 'Fili, sapicntia thcsauriis cst ct cor iuum archa. Quando sapicntiarn discis, thcsaurizas tibi thcsauros bonos, thcsauros imrnortalcs, thcsauros incorruptibilcs, qui numquarn vetcrascunt, nec specicrn clriritatis suae amittunt. In thcsauris sapicntiac variac sunt cipum specics et in archa cordis tui conditoria multa. Alibi aurum ct alibi argcntum, alibi lapidcs prcciosi disponuntur.' De Trihs 11. 5-9. Cf. 'Nihil cnim prodcst vidisse et audisse, nisi ca quae videris et audicris, in metnoriae reposireris thesauro.' Jerome, Commertrarium in Ezekiel xii, 40 in Parrologia Latina, L. 25, 373D-374A. For Quintilian, memory is the trcasurc- house of eloquence, 'thesaurus hic eloquentiae', Instit~rrioorutoria Xl.ii.1. John of Salisbury's Metulogicon defincs mcmory as 'the mind's trcasure-chest, a sure and reliablc place of safc-deposit for pcrccptions', trans. Carruthers, p. 1 13 ('Memoria vero quasi mentis arca, fimaque et fidelis custodia pcrceptorum', 1, II in Patrofogiu Lutina. 199, 839A). The metaphor of the wax tablet for memory dates back to Antiquity. In Plato's Theuetetus, Socrates compares the impression of something on mcmory to the imprint of a scal in a block of wax. (Plato. Coliected Dialogues, trans. F. M. Cornford, p. 897), see Carruthers, p. 21. The metaphor of the book for mcmory devclops from the imagery of the wax tablets. Andrew of St. Victor writes: 'According to Jcwish tradition, the sins of al1 men are preserved in writing on a shining white substance ...Grievous sins are written in red and other colours which iidhere more faithfully to the parchment and strike the reader's eye more readily ...When sins are said to be written in books, what else does it mean but that God remembers as though they werc written?' (quated by Beryl Smalley, The Stiidy of the Bible in the Middle Ages, p. 148). For a list of occurrences of book and writing memory metaphors, see Hany Caplan, Of Efoquence, p. 2 13-4. Also see The Book of Mentary, pp. 37-43,45. For a presentation of mcmory metaphors, see Carruthers, pp. 16-45. 68 In De Arca Noe Morali Hugh of Saint Victor introduces a tree-figure, the arbor sapientiue. To each stagc of the tree's growth, Hugh attaches a Biblical dictum, so that the development of the tree, Le., planting, watering, rooting, gcrmiaating etc. serves as a mnemonic for thc text. A later example is Ramon Lull's (b. 1235) Arbor scientine in which the whole encyclopedisi as knowledge is sciiematised as a forest of trees. See Yates, The Art of Memory, pp. 173-98 for details of Lull's mnemonic art. Hunting and traces are part of the same metaphorical network. al1 of these metaphors for memory occur in the prologues to the cl~riiisoiisde ge.ste.69 One of the most interesting appearances of imagery from the mnemonic tradition occurs in the prologue to Hervis de Mes, where the poet represents his Song as 'une tresse': [Tolute la tresse vos en vorrai conter (v. 7)" The poet is imagining his poem as a trace which he is following, and, as a memory, since to follow a trace is part of the metaphoncal network of hunting imagery for memory activity." This verse is missing in Manuscript N of Hervis de Mes where it is replaced by the following: Tote l'estoire qu'ri Mes est remembré (Hervis de Mes, N. v. 7) For the scribe of manuscript N 'la tresse' is the equivalent of an 'estoire remembré'. This variant renders explicit the 'tresse' as a metaphor for memory. In the Middle Ages, and even today, the form of the tree has been used in classrooms as a schema which permits the transmission of much information in a form which facilitates memorisation. One of the most famous arboriforrn schemata of the Middle Ages, is the twelfth- century construction of Peler of Poitiers which presents the genealogy of Jesus christ." Quintilian compares the mernory work of a skiilful orator to a huntsman, or fisherman, tracking his game (Insritirrio oratoritt, V, x, 20-2). The i~tvestigclrioof the memory hunter tracks the vesrigin of his material. " 1 have not yet found the image of wax tablets in the dar~soride geste prologues. 'O Catherine M. Jones explores the narrator's presentation of the poem as a 'trace' to be followed in a two-page introduction to Part One of The Noble Mercharir, but she does not make a connection between this and the mnemonic tradition: 'In the Lorraine dirrlect used by the scribe, tresse may constitute an alternate form of truce, the trail revealing the direction of a journey; trace may also designate a 'suite' or continuation.The jongleur's function as storyteller thus consists in retracing the narrative and genealogical path leading to the complete story of the heroic limage.' pp. 3 1-2. Jones points out that the word tresse has various nuances, 'As a metatextual term, the word 'tresse' is a hapax in Old French narrative poetry. Godefroy translates 'la tresse*of Ms. E's prologue ris 'la suite'. This rnay be understood in the sense of 'continuation' since the prologue does mention characters and events from Gariri le Loherczi~t.However, since Hervis de Mes is a continuation in reverse, Godefroy's 'suite* should undoubtedly be understood as 'what follows'. Moreover, the word also means 'action', 'vestige* and 'chemin', and the majority of examples from both Godefroy and Tobler-Lommatzsch correspond to these meanings.' p. 32, note 1. See also Catherine M. Jones, 'La Tresse', pp. 261-3, where Jones points out that the words for trace, and braid were hornophonic, and thus that tresse has additional semantic resonance as brttid. " See footnote 68. 72 Contpendiirrri Historiae irr Genealogia Cltrisri. 'A version of the diagram seems to have had an independent existence early in the twelfth century, for Stephen Langton reports that rr genealogical diagram, 'a historical tree of the Old Testament' was painted on skins (parchment) and hung on the wall in Paris classrooms; a manuscript of it was in the library at St. Victor.' The Book of Meniory, p. 250. Geoffrey of Vinsauf uses tree imagery in his Poetria Nova to represent pictorially the divisions of a beginning: This kind of beginning is threefold, springing up from thrce shoots. Thc shoots are the first, the middlc, and thc Iast parts of the theme. Frorn their stem a sprig, as it wcre, bursts forth, and is thus wont to bc born, onc might Say, of threc mothcrs. it rcmains in hiding, howcver, and when summoncd it rcfuscs to hear. It docs not as a rulc comc forward when the rnind bids it; it is of a somcwhat haughty naturc, and does not prcscnt itsclf rcadily nor to dl. Thcse branches of beginning have thus bcen discovcred by crireful search; cnd, middlc, and provcrbs. A fourth branch is the cxcmplum; but this onc, too, likc the one beforc it, rises up in thrcc shoots. In thcsc cight branches the pen itsclf takes pridc." in the prologue to the Cl~unsondes Saisnes, the poet visualises the roots and the branches of his poem:74 Ci nais1 de la chançon ct racine ct tuiax Don li chanz ct li diz est mirablcs ct biax. (Chanson des Saisries LT, vv. 38-9) The presentation of the various parts of rhetoric as so rnany branches and twigs of a tree is a device to aid memorisation of the compositional scheme, sitice it facilitates division into parts. The appearance of tree imagery in the prologue to Li Chcrnson des Saisnes to describe the poem suggests that this poet was thinking of his work in terms of divisions large and srndl.'" The rnost frequently occurring image of the chccrtsons de geste prologues is the ancient book which the poet evokes as the source of his material: Qui d'oir ct d'antandre a loisir ct talant Face pais, si escout bone chançon vaillant Don li livre d'estoirc sont tesmoing et garant! (Charison des Saisries L(T), vv. 1-3) Chanson dc gcstc plaroit vos a entandre? Teis ne fut faite de lo tans Alixandre; Fist lai un moines de Saint Denise an Francc, 73 Poetria Nova, trans. Margaret F. Nims (Toronto: Pontifical Insritutc, 1967) pp. 20- 1. See also Les Arts poétiques du XIIe et XIIIe siècles, ed. Edmond Faral, (Paris: Champion, 1924; rcpr. Paris: Champion, 1962). The Rherorica ad Herennium was a sourcc for Poetria Nova (sec Nims, Introduction). " Cf. 'L'estoire est paille, le sens est grains: le sen est fruit, I'estoire raims', from Livre des Rois, cited by E. Vinaver, 'Frorn Epic to Romance', Bulletin of the John Ryltnds Library, 40.2 ( 1964), 476-503, p. 490. Tree imagery also occurs in thc Loherain geste: 'Que benois soit li bons clers qui le fist ... / Et tout chi1 soient qui le vorront oir, 1 Des Loherains qui tant furent sentis, 1 De cui il furent alevé et nom, / Gcstc après autre et parent et ami! / Comme est uns abres plant6 en un gardin.., 1 Tant vit li abres qu'i le convi[e]nt morir.., / A tant les jestes qu'il les estuet falir', cited in Alrfanzosisches Worterbüch, Adolf Toblers nachgelassene Materialien, bearbeitrt und herausgegeben von Erhard Lurnmatzsch, vol. 8, (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 197 l), under the entry remembrer. See also Edmund Stengel. Mitteilunge~iaris franzijsischen HandschriftenderTrrrinerUriiversitiits- Bibliothek (Halle: Lippert, 1873)- p. 12. 75 See Chapter 1 whcre 1 show that the chansons de geste consist of units of various size. Mist lai an livre per grant senefiancc (Les Enfances Glrillaunie, vv. 1-4) In the twelfth century the book not only symbolised memory as something acquired, it was also a memorisation tool: it was both memory as archive and process. Traditionally this mention of books in the prologues has been interpreted as a reference to a~thorit~.~~We should however take into account the use of books as metaphor for rnerno~~.~~Hugh of Saint Victor explains the role the object of reading, the manuscript, played in the memorisation process: Multum crgo valct ad mcmoriam confirmandam ut, cum libros Icgimus, non solum numcrum ct ordincm vcrsuum vel scnientiarum, scd ctiam ipsum colorcm et formam simul ct situm positioncmquc Iittcrarum pcr imaginationcm mcinoriae imprimcrc studcrimus, ubi illud et ubi illud scriptum vidimus, qua partc, quo loco (supprerno, medio, vcl imo) constitutum aspcximus, quo colore tractum littcrac vcl facicm membranac ornatcm intui ti ~umus.~" This dunl valency of the metaphor is reflected in the chanson de geste prologues where the book to which the poets refer represents the memory of events legendary and historical, and by association, the poem itself, which is preserved in a manuscript, becomes a memory which will unfold with the narrati~e.~' The chamber as a metaphor for memory originates in the ancient mnemonic system, known as the'architectural' method, which consists of distributing images of the things which one wishes to remember throughout the rooms of an imaginary building. The prologues to Girart de Roussillon and Elie de Saint Gille make reference to chambers and the keys which are needed to unlock them. The third verse of Girart de Roussillon which 1 quote below in the context of the first laisse has dways been considered to be enigmatic:80 Manfreid Gsteiger, 'Note sur les priainbules des chansons de geste'. 77 See footnote 67. 78 De Tribus 11. 19-25. 'Therefore it is a great value for fixing a rnemory-image that when we read books, we study to impress on our memory through our mental-image-forming power [per imaginationem] not only the number and order of verses or ideas, but at the same time the color, shape, position and placement of the letters, where we seen this or that written, in what part. in what location (ai the top, the middle, or the bottom) we saw it positioned, in what color we observed the trace of the letter or the ornamented surface of the parchment.' Trans. Carnithers, The Book ofMernory, p. 264. See Chapter 4. a): The remembering subject: Audience inscription in the Rcnc-ziri de Montauban prologue, pp. 108-19. 'O 'l'obscurité et la corruption évidente du texte*Hackatt, p. 5 15, note 1. Bone cancon c ville vos ai aduche, E des mon accsmaz feite e estruchc. El n'ai les chus des cambres O lei conduchc; Per toz vilans juglarz I'ame deduche. Ja ne voil qu'en ait uns la caire suchc Car un comte trcis vers, rote icrt destruche. Le premeran fu longe e est rcfuche; Pcr oc s'es lius e clarc, plane c duchc; Astrc mon grat le conte qui la rcfuchc. (Girtlrt de Romdlori, v. 1-9) The poem's editor, Mary Hackett, translates this passage as follows: Jc vous ai apporte unc honnc vieille chanson, t'aitc et composéc avec dcs mots élégants (*?)." Elle n'a pas apporté avec elle Ics clcfs dcs chambres (c.-à-d. elle n'a pas plu aux daines?), ellc n'a pas rkjoui l'âme (car cllc a éti chant&) par dcs jongleurs tout à fait vilains. Jc nc veux qu'aucun de ccux-lh s'cfforcc dc la chanter (lilt. s'en cssuic la figurc), car l'un cn chantc trois vcrs et cllc sera tout ii fait détruite, La prcmiErc (chanson) Tut longue ct est méprisée. Ccpcndant clle cst facile, clriirc, coulante, él6gantc. 11 la chantc contre mon gr& celui qui la dédaigne." Hackett's interpretation of the third verse, which has also been accepted by Micheline de Combarieu du Grès, the poem's most recent translator, is that the poem did not have enough courtly appeal to please the ladies.83 The difficulty wi th this interpretation is that it does not accord well with an accepted interpretation of the poem's prologue. It has been argued that the epic structure of the poeni was augmented with a romance prologue which is supposed to have attracted an audience more accustomed to verse romance, particularly the ladies of the COU^.^^ If the poem has been composed with romance elements in order to attract a counly audience, then it would appear strange that the poet would announce that the poem does not hold the keys to the ladies' chambers, when, according to this interpretation, it should open to itself a ferninine, courtly des niorz acesmuz (v. 2) is problematic since mesnu: is not an adjective one would expect to tind with morts. The alternative translation mots supposes that rtiorz is a graph for moz and that the scribe is responsible for the intrusion of an 'r'. Hackett concludes that the translation 'mots' is more appropriate to the general sense of thc passage. 82 Girart de Roussillort, note 1, pp. 5 15-6. 83 La Chartson de Girnrt de Roussillort, trans. Micheline de Combarieu du Grès and Gérard Gouiran (Paris: Librairie Générale Française, 1993) p. 43, note 1. 84 For further discussion of this issue see Mary Hackett, 'L'amour dans Girart de Roussillori' in Actes et ntémoires dii IV CongrGs international de langrre et littiranrre d'oc et d'&t~&s franco-provençales (Avignon: 1970), 107- 15; 'L'élément courtois dans le vocabulaire de Girart de Roussillon' in La Charison de geste et le mythe carolingien: Mélunges René Loliis publiés par ses collègues, ses amis et ses élèves, 2 vols, (Saint-Père sous Vézelay: 1982), 730-36. 104 audience. If verse 3 is read in the logic of its context, then a different interpretation suggests itself. The poet says in the first laisse that the poem is des inorz acesinaz feite e estruclte. In other words it is a skilfully constructed poem. He goes on to say that 'it didn't cany with it the key to the chambers', that it was recited by bad jongleurs and did not have any success. The consequence of this is that the poem has been considered long and boring. However, the narrator voice of the prologue implies that when he recites the poem it is liiis r clnre, pkrrre r duche.'%ther than introduce an idea which is exterior to the logic of this first laisse (Le., the concept of the poem reriching courtly female auditors), if we read verse three within its context, then it would appear that the key to the chambers is an element which was lacking and which the narrator voice is bringing to the poem. It is an element which makes the poem cleu, easy to follow and understand. 1 propose that the 'key to the chambers' should be read as the 'key to the chambers of memory'. The key to the chambers of memory would be a plan which would enable the poet to articulate the divisions of the poem and thus facilitate audience comprehension. When Geoffrey of Vinsauf presents the parts of beginnings in a tree schema, it clarifies his exposiiion, making it easier to follow and memorise. If the tree imagery, which aids comprehension by presenting a mental diagram, were to be removed from Geoffrey's exposition of the various parts of the rhetoric of beginnings, the structure of his presentation would remain as skilfully constmed, but it would be obscured to whoever was unacquainted with the pattern on which it is based. In the sarne way, the beautifully constructed laisses of the Roland remain artful whether or not the reader is acquainted with the literature which elucidates the structural brilliance, but the 85 In Hackett's translation: 'facile, claire, coulante, élégante'; in Combarieu's expanded translation: 'facile à suivre et Li comprendre, car sa langue est simple et élégante.' 1 05 difference of reading aware of these structures and reading blindly is the difference between a boring poem and a poem exquisite in its simplicity. 1 suggest that the third verse of the opening laisse of Girart be read in the context of other chansons de geste prologue references to memory as a metaphor for a rnnemonic blueprint of the poem which permits the perforrner to sing it with a clear notion of its articulations and divisions. In preceding examples, the images and metaphors of the prologues create an association between the Song and memory which is part of the dialogue betwcen the narrator and the poem's audience. In the prologue to Elie de Saint Gille, the poet confiates the rnetaphors of treasure and chambers, with the difference that, in this case, the memory images operatc on one of the characters, and do not establish an association between the Song and memory. A second reference to chambers occurs in the prologue to Elie de Saint Gille: Lcs huis ont dcsfrernis et Ics cambres ovrircnt, (v. 29) Here there is no explicit reference to keys, but they are implied in 'desfremés'. This reference to charnbers as a metaphor for mernory is part of a complex extended metaphor which extends through the first two laisses: Or hitcs pais, signor, quc Dicus vous bcncic, Li glorieus dcl chiel, li ficus sainte Maric! Plairoit il vous oir .iii. vers de baronic? Certes, chou est d'un conte qui fu nês a Sainte Gille. Signor, il vesqui tant que la barbe ot flaric; Ains ne fis1 en sa vie [raison ne boisdic, Ains ama mout forment le fieus Sainte Marie Et mout bien honora mostier et abeie, Et si fist bons pons faire et grant ostelerie; Juliens ot a non, mout [ot] grant signorie. ,I. jor(s) estoit li quens en se sale perine U que il voit ses homes, si lor cornmçnche a dire: 'Signor baron* dist il, 'li cors Dieu vous garisse! II a mout bien .c. ans mes armes portai primes, Ainc puis ne fis nul jor traison ne boisdic Dont nus hon crestiens perdist onques la vie. Sor sarrasine gent euc je tous jours envie: Par de desous Biaulandc en mi la praierie En ochis je, signor, en .i. jor plus de quinse, la mais nen ert par moi, je quic, joste furnie Ne nulle enpainte faite ne lance sorbrandie. Or refaiche autretel mes gentius fieus Elye: Des or mais me convient reposer et bien vivrc, Bien boire et bien manger, reposer a delivre, 25 J'rii encor ma mollier quc je mout aim et prisse; Jou ai de lui .i. fil et unc belc fille: Amenés les moi [tost], ses verai mes enpires Et il si firent lors, [la] en i corent qrrinse, Les huis ont desfremés et les canibres ovrireni, 30 Elyc i ont trovti et sa scror Olive: Droit dc devant lor pcrc Ics menereni et guient. (Elie de Suirit Gille, v. 1-31 ) Juliens considers his children to be his enpires (v. 27). In the chnnsons de geste enpires is often used as a general term to express everything which an individual possesses. It is synonymous to some extent with tresors, and it is this synonymy which leads into the unlocking, opening and finding in verses 29-30. Julien's children are his empire, a treasure which he has unlocked and brought before him. The operation of metaphor, however, does not stop here with an association between Julien's children and treasure. Treasure troves and chambers, as we have seen above, are medieval metaphors for memoryR6Julien has ordered his rooms (treasure chests) to be opened (unlocked), and his children (treasures) are brought before him. At this point he gains access to mernory through his children (his unlocked treasure), and the memories which he recovers are the memories of when he was his son's age: VCcs mon fil qui est cn ccle salc: Gcni a Ic cors et lees les espaulcs; Mout me mervel confais est ses corages, S'il vaura estre, comme dcstriers en gardc, Moine rcclus a Nocl u a Pasques. Or deust estre a Paris u a Chartres Ou en Espaigne u au roi de Navaire, Et servist tant Locys le ficus Charle Que de son fief eust [grrint] heritage. J'en conquis tant, quant fui de son eage, Dont j'ai encore .iiii. chastieus en gardc Et .iii. chités et fretds jusqu'a quatre; (Elie de Saint Gille, vv. 13-54) His memory is further prompted by his sword and his weaponry which he passes on to his son: 86 See especially Hugh of Saint Victor's treasure imagery where he refen to gold, silver and precious Stones, in note 67 above. Ains te donrai mon destrier et mes armes. S9avra[s]I'espce que je portai de Trapes Quant Aimers i fist le vaselagc, Qu'il cn ochist Anseis de Cartage. (Elie de Sairit Gille, vv. 64-7) The use of physical objects in retrieving and securing mernories has been recognised both by medievals and modems alike." Julien's perception of his children as his verni enpires sets up a rich network of associations chilhn- treasiirc-memory which is consonant with the chrrnsoii de geste ethos that children are valuable assets since they preserve the values and the memory of their f~refathers.~' From the examples discussed above, it seems that in al1 but the Elie de Suint Gille prologue, imagery which traditionally represents memory, is being used as a metaphor for the poems. This dual valency of the metaphoric imagery sets up an exchange between the two referents of the metaphor (memory and the poem) which causes each to be nuanced by the other such that the poem becomes a memory, and memory a poem. The following chapter will explore the chanson de geste as a memory and the audience as its remernbering subject. '' Gcorgcs Duby, ' Mémoircs sans historien' in Mûle Moyen Age: Dr 1 'Antolu et (carres essais, (Paris: Flammarion, 1988) 2 10-2 1, p. 2 12. The commcmorative function of objects is particularly important in an oral / scmi-oral culture whcre a written record of lcgal transactions, for cxamplc, is not possible. 'In Satic Iaw the land to bc sold was frcqently represcnted by a physical objcct, a rod or piece of sod, which whcn ritually exchanged, legitimizcd the transfer.' Brian Stock, The Iniplications cf Literucy: Written hngrrage and klr~del~.of lriterpretariori in the Elevenih and Twelfth Centuries (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1983) p. 47. For a furthcr example of the association betwecn memory and physical objects from a churison de geste, see the Oxford Roland, laisse 172, where the dying Roland, attempting to break his sword is remindecf of al1 the conquests he has made with it. Also, towards the cnd of thc poem, whcn the emperor bcstows Durendal and the Olifant on Rabçl and Guineman, with the recomrnendation, 'Seiez es lius Oliver e Rollant!' (v. 3016), the objects preserve the memory of the two warriors: 'Sunent cil greisle e derere c devant, Sur tuz les altres bundist li olifant. Plurent Franceis pur pitét de Rollant.' (vv, 3 1 18-20). An obvious modern example is the cvocative power of the madeleine, the scent of the hawthorn and the unevenness of the paving Stones in Proust. The lengths to which Bcton's parents, and their community, go to save thrir son in the Occitan epic Daurel et Betori is indicative of the importance of the noble heir, who is not only heir to a particular frimily, but the safeguard of a continuance of a particular social order and set of values within his domain. The transfer of the child from a noble's to a jongleur's family, and the concomitant sacrifice of the jorigleur's son, occurs to preserve the possibility of a return to a stritus quo which has been temporarily disrupted. The jongleur Daurel assures the child's remembrance of his history by repeating his story at kcy intervals. In contrast, in Girnrt de Rortssillon, where Girart de Roussillon's sons die, the status quo is not preserved. Girart and his wife end their lives in religious institutions and the estate is passed to Fouque and his sons whom Girart considers as the officers of a ncw era of peace and justice. Sec Paula Leverage, Transformative Poetics, An nntrlysis of the hagiogrciphical elements of 'Girurr de Roussillori ', M.A. thesis, University of Warwick, ( 1993) pp. 146-7. Chapter 4 The Remernbering Subject / The Subject Remembering The first part of this chapter presents the audience inscribed in the prologue of Reuaut de Montauban as a remembering subject. The second part, by questioning how an audience remembers repetitions, and what happens when it does, considers the subject remembering. a) The remembering subject: Audience inscription in the Renaut de Montauban prologue The prologue to Renaut de Montauban implicates the audience in the story as it moves from past to present, from general presentation to detüiled narrative, from memory to experience. One result of this analysis of organisation is a redefinition of the boundaries of the prologue to Renaut de Montauban. M. Gsteiger questioned rnany years ago whether the opening of Renruii de Montouban is in fact a prologue.' Gsteiger's comments are based on the presence and absence of characteristic clzrinson de geste prologue formulas in the first laisses of Rencuit. His principal objection to Renaut's prologue is that it appears to extend for a mere five verses. Within these first five verses, however, occur four typical elements of the chanson de geste prologue: an appeal to the audience to listen, an assurance conceming the poem's veracity, its superior quality and that it has been taken from an old scroll.' ' 'Notes sur les préambules des chansons de geste'. Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale, 2 (1959). 2 13-220: 'Renaut de Montauban and Le Siége de Barhastre, 'après quelques vers de caractère générai, abordent directement le sujet'. p. 2 13. ' For a classification of the constituent parts of a chanson de geste prologue, see Jean-Pierre Martin, Les Motfi, pp. 219-41. 1 O9 The poem's most recent editor, Jacques Thomas, on the other hand, l.abels the first sixty- four laisses of the poem as prologue.3Thomas' prologue covers al1 of the events up to the retreat of Renaut and his brothers to Ardenne where they secretly construct the castle of Montessor. It is clear that he considers the entire initial episode to be a prologue. Rychner's annlysis of prologues, linking the summary to the audience's memory or prior knowledge of the story. permits of a new perspective on the opening of the poem: ... lc prologue-annoncc, Ic prologue anticipatcur, comportc déjà un rappcl, cclui de la Iégendc plus gCn6ralc ...Le jongleur place aussitbt son auditoire dans un milicu Iégcndairc qui lui est familicr ct qui est un bon tcrrain dc rencontre: unc sorte d'entente, prcsquc de complicité, va unir jongleur cl public facc au héros. Lc contact csi assurb, Ic chant particulicr SC trouvc lid B la plus largc 1r5~cnde.'' Rychner's comments on the prologue's evocation of audience rnemory, and the complicity between jongleur and audience which this creates, leads to two observations. Firstly, the prologue summary which refers to a story known to the audience is simultaneously a forecast of the events which the poem will narrate. If the summary refers to events in audience memory, and also to the events of the poem, then we can Say that the poem itself is a memory which will unfold as the narration occurs. Secondly, if the incitement of audience memory is the stming point for a complicitous relationship between the audience and the jongleur, then the establishment and intensification of audience contact with the poem can be measured by the unfolding of the narrative which, according to the first observation, is simultaneously an activation of audience memory of a known story. 3 Renalct, pp. 25-9. La Chanson de Geste, p. 55. Jean-Pierre Martin has also remarked that the part of a prologue which describes the origins of the initial situation of a poem relates the poem to the collective memory of the audience. Its function '...Li inscrire l'histoire racontée dans une histoire plus vaste, cyclique et même cosmique, pour clore en quelque sorte une histoire totale en couvrant tout ce qui relie une origine absolue h une catastrophe mythique.', Les Motvs, p. 229. See also lemPierre Martin, 'Quelques observations sur l'expression du passé dans les chansons de geste', in Histoire et Litt4rutw-eau Moyen Age, Actes du Colloque du Centre d'Etudes Médiévales de l'université de Picardie (Amiens, 20-24 mars, 1985), ed. D. Buschinger, Goppingener Arbeiten zur Germanistik, 546 (Goppingen: Kürnmerle Verlag, 199 1), 279-90. 110 In the first laisses of Renaut the poet presents an event sumrnary which establishes an initial contact with audience memory, which he then develops, bringing the audience into an increasingly involved relationship with the poem until the initial memory is brought to life and experienced as narrative. After the opening address to the audience, the first laisse of Renaut evokes the war between Charles and the four brothers Girart, Doon, Aymon and Beuves, which is not narrated in the poem. The narrator appears to assume that this war is present in audience memory, since he does not expand the reference in the poem.5 This is followed by a surnmary of the events of the poem, the wars between Charles and a second generation of brothers, Aymon's sons. The summary consists of two parts, which present a repeating pattern (vv. 14-18. vv. 19- 29). The first part refers to the treacherous killing of Beuves in an ambush which disrupts his embassy to Charles. These events constitute a prehistory to the principal events of Retraitt de Montcruban which concentrate on the wars between Charles, and Renaut and his brothers. The deüth of Beuves, while it is narrated in the poem, is the obscure consequence of the first generation wars (referred to in vv. 6- 13) which are not narrated. The second part of the summary refers to Renaut's murder of Charles' nephew which is the catalyst for the wars with Aymon's sons, and their subsequent flight and exile. I shall refer to the first part of the summary as the prehistory summary, since it evokes the events of the prehistory and to the second, simply as the second summary. The sequential temporal movement from the prehistory summary to the events of the second surnmary is complemented by a second temporal perspective which emerges from the ' For the purposes of clarity, 1 shall distinguish betwcen the narrator voice which is always present, implicitly, or explicitly, and the particular manifestation of the narrator voice when it assumes the jongleur persona, by referring to ihe latter as the perfomative voicc. III parallelism of two parts of the summary, which emphasises that the history of warfare is repeating itselfm6 The parallelism of the events of the prehistory summary and the second summary is highlighted through similar presentation. A provocative action ( 1)' followed by ensuing action expressed in a 'puis+verb' phrase (2), is followed by (a) verse(s) in which the extent of the destruction is represented by 'tant' or 'maint' (3). In the case of the prehistory surnrnary the provocative action is Beuves' death: [Que] Karlcs fist ocirrc a .i. jor de Nocl Lc duc Bucf d'Aigrcmont quc il avoit mandé; Ou conduit I'cmpcrcur fu li duz deviez: (vv. 14- 1 6) Verse 17 starts with 'Puis fu' and expresses the ensuing action: Puis cn fu granz la gucrrc ct la mortalitcz, (v. 17) and verse 18 is the 'tant' phrase which sketches the destruction which follows: Et tmt preudomc rnorz, ociz ct afolcz. (v. 18) This ends the events of the prehistory surnmary. The second summary complicates the pattern by duplicating both the second and third elements of the three-part presentation. The duplication occurs because the events of the second summary are presented as a consequence (temporal and causal) of the prehistory. Renaut's killing of Bertolai is the provocative action which initiates the second summary: Renaus li filz Aimon qui tant ot de bontez Occit puis Bertolai d'un eschac pointuré Le neveu Karlcmaigne, dunt li rois fu irez: (vv. 19-2 1) The first puis in the second summary occurs in verse 20 simultaneously with the provocative action and is followed by a description of destruction, the extent of which is conveyed by tant: ci ci The similarity between the four brothers of the prehistory and the four sons of Aymon (the story) is emphasised through dissimilar repetition: 'Cil .iiii. furent frere et d'un pere engenré' (v. 11) refers to the precursors, while during the Vaucouieurs episode the brothers console themselves by refemng to their illustrious lineage and emphasising their fiaternity: 'Ameis somes ruit frere et nos apartenon' (v. 696 1). La terre en fu dcstruite ct tant pais gasté, Et tante veve dame perdi son avoé, Tant enfant orphcnin cn sont desheritk Et chcu a povcrtc et a honte livrd (vv. 22-5) This expression of damage on a grand scale is followed by a second occurrence of the puis / tant pattem with the variation of maint for tant: Er puis en fu Rcnaus li vassaux malmenez Entrc lui ct ses frercs chaciez forz dou regné, Puis gucrroicrent Karlc lor anemi mortel, Et li fircnt maint mal cl niaitire tcmpcstez. (vv. 26-9) In this first laisse of Renuirt, pctis acquires a causal force, which is particularly significant in the shift from the prehistory to the summary of events which launch the wars between Charles and Renaut and his brothers. War and death follow previous war and death in terms of chronology, but war and death also beget more war and death. Puis expresses temporal and causal succession until verse twenty-six where it indicates temporal succession, since Renaut's exile and mistreatment are not the result of the preceding carnage. The puis phrase is not followed immediately by a tant phrase; it occurs again and maint replaces tant in the phrase describing destruction. These subtle changes in the rhetorical pattem of the first laisse accompany the mise en scène of the epic hero. Between verse 19 and 29 Renaut undergoes two developments: between 19 and 27 he is transformed from a lone warrior to a man who fights with his brothers, and between 26 and 29 he transforms from a passive. hunted man, to a warrior fighting his king. The destruction on a grand scale which previously had been general becomes focused and is directed against the king with al1 the intensity of maint mal et mainte tempestez falling upon the pronoun fi in verse 29. At this point the narration of the events forecast in the summary begins. The progression of the first laisse haî taken the audience from a reference to the first generation wars, which evokes mernory external to the poem, to a summary of the second generation wars, which refers both to events known to audience memory, and events which are 113 preserved as memory in the narrative of the poem. The initial audience 1 jongleur complicity, which the first reference creates by evoking audience knowledge, is enhanced by the summary which invokes a memory which the narrative will corroborate. The following laisses diminish the objective distance between the audience position and the poem through a series of usurpations of the performative voice. The first eighteen verses of laisse 2 are characterised in contrast to the first laisse by a performative voice which presents itself variously as singular, plural, and representative: ainsi corn nos diron (v. 32), de vertci le savori (v. 33). je ne sui les nom (v. 38), de fi le set on (v. 39). The performative voice was present in the opening address of verse 1 of the poem (Seignour, oiez chançon de grant nobilité (v. 1), but then fell silent for the remainder of the first laisse. The presence / absence of the perfomative voice implies varying degrees of audience engagement with the narrative. In the first laisse, in the absence of the performative voice, the story is external to the audience: a presentation of events to occur, or even more radically in the case of the prehistory, extemal to the poem itself, existing in collective memory. In the second laisse the audience is very firmly inscribed in the poem as an essential corollary of the performative voice. The development of the performative voice between the first and the second laisses diminishes the distance between the audience and the poem. The audience is implicated further in the poem in the second and third laisses when two characters, the king, and Duke Naimes of Bavaria, appear to usurp the perforrnative voice. The referent of the first person voice, which up until now has been the narrator, changes when the king addresses his court, employing phrasing and rhetorical strategies which echo those of the performative voice. At verse 48 the voice of the emperor takes over: L'cmpereor salue et parla corn preudom. Barons, dit I'emperere, entendez ma reson (vv. 47-8) The emperor's address (v. 48) is reminiscent of the performative voice's opening address: Seignour, oicz chanson dc grant nobilité (v. 1 ) Furthemore reson can refer to a poetic composition, as in the prologue to Jehan Bodel's Chanson des ~aisnes.'The emperor's voice also echoes at verse 73 the de verté le savon of the performative voice at verse 33 and displays the sarne polyvalency as the performative voice of the first part of the second laisse: it is variously singular and plural. When the emperor presents to his court a summary overview of recent events, it is as if he is presenting his own prologue to the poem using the same stntegies of summary and overview emptoyed by the narrator in the first laisse. Until verse 75 al1 the verbs of which Charles is agent have been in the pst tense as he relates to his barons the prologue or the prehistory to his plans. At verse 75 the future tense mindercri launches his plan of action. At the end of his self-created prologue, this characier activates himself in rnuch the same way as the poet at the end of the first laisse had effected a mise en scène of the hero Renaut. In laisse 3 an echo of the poem's initiating address reappears in the rnouth of Duke Naimes: Biaus sire, or fctes pais, que Dçx vos vocille aidicr! (v. 1 12) This is further removed from the first verse of the poem than is the king's address to his court at verse 48. Firstly the address is to the king, one person, rather than to a community, and secondly, while its constituent phrases or fetes pais and que Dex vos voeille aidier certainly are those of the first laisses of severd chansons, they do not occur in the first laisse of ~enaid 'Quide ['estoire as Saisnes velrr conter la raison' (v. 43, AR), ed. by Annetie Brasseur (Genevx Droz, 1989). Gianfelicc Peron has remarked on the similarity of prologue formulas to the discourse of court scencs and wanior speeches in the Oxford Roland He argues that the Roland served as a rhetorical mode1 for prologue formulas. See 'L'Elaboration rhétorique du prologue dans les chansons de geste', in VIII Congreso de fa Socie'te' Rencesvcils (Institucih Principe de Viana, 198 l), 393-7: 'il faut ajouter que la Chanson de Roland semble avoir fonctionné comme modèle rhétorique en ce qui concerne le choix de ces formules qui constituent les prologues.. .. La plupart de ces formules sont groupées dans les scknes des conseils ou dans les discours qui sont adressés aux guerriers pour les inciter au combat.', p. 394. ' Segneurs, or faites pes, que Diex vous puist aidier! ( v. 1, Ayd'Avignon) Segnour, oiiés, que Diex vous puist aidier! Si faites pais et laisies le noissier (vv. 20- 1, filion de Bordeaux) 115 Duke Naimes' phrase, however, follows the ernperor's address to his court, and in this context, its relationship with prologue formulas cannot be ignored. It is the third in a series of prologue addresses. Continuing the pattern of voice usurpation, in the third laisse of Renruit elements of Charles' speech to his court reappear in Naimes' address to Charles. Charles has demanded that Beuves of Aigremont corne to pay him homage with an extensive entourage in the following words: Et soient cn sa rote .iiii.c. compagnon Adobcz dc lor armes sor Ics destriers gascon. (vv. 77-8) When Naimes calls for the election of a messenger to Beuves, he suggests that he be armed and accompan ied: Et si soit bien armez sor son corrant destrier, Soicnt cn sa compagnc .iiii.c. chçvalicr (vv. 1 16-7) The verbal similarity between the prologue formulas of the performative voice and the character addresses, and between character addresses, draws attention to three discourse situations in the first few laisses of Renaut. The performative voice addresses the poem's audience, Charles addresses his court, and Naimes addresses Charles. From the perspective of the audience, however, there is only one discourse situation: the communication between the poem and the audience. A verse such as: Biaus sire, or fctes pais, que Dex vos vocille aidier! (v. 1 12) places the audience in the role of addressee, piinicularly given that the phrase is an echo of a formula ernployed in prologues where the addressee is the poem's a~dience.~The performative It is noteworthy that when Lohier, Charles' messenger and nephew, arrives at Beuves' court, his address does not start with words which recall a narrator's prologue voice (v. 226-6). Sirnilady Beuves' addresses to his court in response to the message could not be niistaken for narrator prologue addresses, even when they commence with Segnor as in v. 358 Segrtor, ce dit fi duz, molt nie tient por bricon / L'emperere de France, li rois de Monloon. This distinction of charricter discourse from the performative voicc's discourse tends to suggest thrit at this point in the poem the audience has been inscribed in the performance scenario, that the prologue has ended and the narrative is engaged. Cf. the performative voice at v. 2143, 'Seignors, or escotez, que Dex vos beneie!' 116 voice implies an audience extemal to the narrative. Charles' address to his court blurs the distinction between the coun audience and the poem's audience. Naimes' address to Charles aligns the audience acoustically with Charles, a character in the poem. The movement from one discourse situation to the next implicates a strategy of rapprochement to the narrative which manipulates a progressive entrenchment of the audience in the poem. The rapprochement of the audience to the narrative is one of three parallel movements which occurs in the opening laisses of Renaut. The first movement is from the past to the present, or from the prehistory to the story. The second movement is from an overview to a step by step exposition of the narrative: the poet anticipates briefly the salient points of the poem in a summary overview 'and then proceeds to the narration of the details of the story. The third movement involves the audience's position vis-à-vis the poem. The audience's initial contact with the poem is essentially objective and external. The audience is introduced to a poem which is represented initially as a written source, as a history. The poem is led from memory to presence through an increase in the audience's implication in the poem. For the audience the poem is initially external, a written source, which becomes interna1 as it is made to reflect on its audience role, until finally the poem appears as an eveni in which the audience participates through rhetorical inscription. The poet's representation of the written source of Renrirrt as a rolle (v. 5)acts as a metaphor for his rhetorical strategy. Just as a reader / performer would have unrolled the scroll to recite the poem, so the poem unrolls before the audience! moving from past to present. It is interesting that the poet chose to represent his source for the story as a scroll. In spite of the fact that in many chansons de geste prologues, and iconically in some rnanuscripts, the written text of the chanson de geste is represented as a scroll, this depiction would appear to run contrary to historical reality since the extant jongleurs' manuscripts are not 117 scrolls, but codices.1° The emphasis on the scroll, in contradiction to the contemporary practice, certainly stresses the antiquity of the poet's source, but it also suggests a tendency to view the scroll as a metaphor for an unfolding narrative. By the end of laisse 3 the audience, which has been gradually inducted into the poem to the point ofcharacter identification, is involved in the poem, at a point when the plot of the story is taking shape. The king has proposed a course of action which has been ratified by Naimon, and al1 that remains is for this course of action to be initiated. In laisse 4 the process of audience inscription continues. When Charles addresses his court for the second time, he is blunt in his demand for a messenger: Baron, dit Karlcmaigne, or oicz mon pensé: Li quiex dc vos ira'?Grirt nc mc soit celé! Tel i covicnt dcr qui molt ait dc bonif, Qui hardicmcnt dic devant toi son bcrnf, Quc por pcor dc mort nc li soit ricn celé. (vv. 126-30) If the poem's audience recognises itself in Charles' court audience, the directness of the question at verse 127 has considerable rhetorical effect. Whether it is received orally or visually, an implicated audience, with the court barons, will ask. 'Would 1undertake to perform this role of messenger?'. The impact of the direct question is reinforced by the model which Charles sets up for his messenger in verses 128-30. He constmcts attractive frame, which attracts immediate response in the sense that it encourages the coun and poem's audience to measure itself against the model. At verse 185 in laisse 4 occurs the first direct address to the audience since the opening verse of the poem: En dura granz la guerre, ce sachiez par verrez Cf. Chapter 3, c) Images from the Mnernonic Tradition in some Chanson de Geste Prologues pp. 101-2. where 1 compare the references to books which appear in some chansons de geste prologues to the metriphorical association of books and rnernory. Il8 Although this is the first direct address to the audience. the narrator engages the audience's attention several verses earlier, when the performative voice anticipates Lohier's death subsequent to the announcement of his departure: Ha! Dex, cc fu granz diauz de sa mortalité (v. 180) Verse 185, the most direct contact with the poem's audience (a second person address) since the opening verse of the poem occurs at a point of high emotional tension and as the culmination of a series of devices which have manipulated the audience's inscription in the poem. The audience has been guided through the rnovements from past to present, from overview to detailed narration, from memory to direct experience. Now at the end of laisse 4 the audience is prepared for direct involvernent with a narration which occurs in the present. Recognition of this immediacy of relationship between the poem and its audience occurs at the beginning of laisse 5 with the following verse: Or chevauche Lohicrs a forcc ct a vcrtu (v. 190) This is the first occurrence of or outside the bounds of character discourse. Or, placed in an emphatic verse initial position at the beginning of a laisse, underlines the immediacy of the narrative. The audience is experiencing narrative action as it occurs, rather than in a summarised retrospective or anticipatory form. It is at this point that the narration of the events forecast in the summary in the first laisse begins, and the prologue ends. The first four laisses of Renaut de Montauban are a prologue to the action anticipated in surnmary. Between the summary which calls to audience mernory the events of a story known to it, and the beginning of laisse 5, the poet establishes a relationship of increasing proximity with the audience. The development of audience involvement parallels the unfolding of audience memory provoked by the summary, such that when the prologue ends at beginning of the fifth laisse, audience memory conflates with the narrative memory of the poem. Through the 119 process of rapprochement to the narrative which 1 have outlined above, the audience becomes the remembering subject of the memory which is the poem. b) The subject remembering: cognition of the disjunctive echo This section proposes an explanation of the process of audience remembering which simultaneously accounts for the effects dependent on recognition of repetitions. The methodology is that of cognitive poetics, as defined by Reuven Tsur: Cognitivc Science is an umbrella term cmbraçing ihc various disciplines that invcstigatc human information proccssing: cognitivc psychology, psycholinguistics, artificial intclligcncc, and ccrtain branches of linguistics and of the philosophy of scicncc. Thcsc explore the psychologieal proccsscs involvcd in the acquisition, organization, and tlic usc of knowledgc; in fact, in al1 information proccssing activitics of the brain, ranging from thc anrilysis of imrncdiatc stimuli to the organization of subjcctivc cxpcricncc. Cognitivc Poctics is sin intcrdisciplinary approach to thc study of liicraturc, cmploying thc tools offcrcd by Cognitivc Scicncc. It cxplorcs the possibtc contributions of Cognitivc Science to Poctics. It attcmpts to find out how poctic languagc, or critical dccisions, arc constraincd and shapcd by human information proccssing.' ' 1 shall start by presenting two difficulties which attend any consideration of the aesthetic effects of repetition in the clinnsons de geste: firstly, the probability of audience recognition of the repetition, and secondly, the relationship between the repetition and its effect. Following this, a review of some new developments in memory theory will lead to an analysis of audience cognition of a disjunctive echo in the Oxford Roland (vv. 123-5, vv. 4 14-8, vv. 426-30, vv. 675-6)which suggests answers to the questions raised by the two difficulties with which we started. The first difficulty is formulated by Vinaver when he writes: Le procédé en question suppose chez I'auditeur une mémoire et un degré d'attention exceptionnels." " What is Cognitive Poetics? (The Katz Research Institute for Hebrew Literature: Tel Aviv University. 1983). p. 5. l2 'La Mort de Roland'. Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale 7 (1964). 133-43, p. 141. Heinemann asks the same question from two different angles. The first concems the interval separating the original occurrence from its repetition: La question peut se poscr si la mémoire mcttait dcs limites h la distancc cntrc occurrences; Ics tcxtcs montrent des allusions préciscs embrassant des distances considérable^.'^ and the second the length of the repeated item: Est-ce qu'un seul vers, et à plus forte raison un seul hémistiche. suffit pour constituer un fcho disjoint?" The second difficulty concerns the effect of the repetition. Critics have described the effects of disjunctive echo, but not the relationship between the repetition and its effect which would explain the effect. Roger Pensom proposed an answer to Vinaver's question ai the end of his book on the Q~cinson de Rolmd. ''He suggests that 'the effectiveness of forma1 devices in comrnunicating and intensifying meaning in language has some neurological basis, that is, they are the analogues of the neural events which are the necessary condition of any response or reaction to a stirn~lus'.'~Pensom elaborates as follows: Thcse considerations will makc it clear that thc formal propcrtics of our tcxt rclatc dircctly to constructional principlcs of a vçry gcncral nature. The point of this discussion of these gencral prinçiplcs is to cmbcd the stylisiic micro-elcments to which my thcsis refers in a gcncral 'thcory of information', which will provide answers to somc of the problcms raiscd by thc examination of a tcxt which is intçndcd to be heard rather than read. The essence of thc argument is thai thc rules governing the construction of an 'aurai text' which will have a high yield of stylistically encodcd information will derivc from the neurological properties and possibilities of thc organs of perception concerned. Thesc propcrties constitute a constructional 'Iogic' which is culturally neutral, a cybcrnetic of aurai perception. It is for this reason that music and its structure is of importance in any attempt to discover how ii is that our tcxt is constructed. The 'logic' to which 1 have rcferred must form the basis of any attempt to encode information stylistically in an aural form, whatcver the cultural conditions under which such a construction might be attcmpted. The role of auditory mcmory, conceivcd as a culiurally neutral cybernetic function is then fundamental to my thesis and it is the reolity in analytical terms af something approaching an aural experience of the poern. Oncc it has been admitted that the poem was intcnded for oral rccitation, then one is committed to judging any reading of the poem as succeeding or failing in the crucial iask of establishing itself upon the basis of a theoretically coherent stylistic of auditory memory. The defense of my thesis has made it necessary to atternpt the establishment of such a basis, and the interpretation of the text that I have suggested must be judged in accordance with the degree of - -- -- l3 L'Art métrique, p. 239. lJibid. l5 Lirerary Techniqt'e in the 'Chanson de Roland' (Geneva: Droz, 1982). l6 Litemry Technique, p. 195, n. 127. correspondence between my reading of the detriil of the poem and the theoretical principles that I have outlined in this chapter.17 To my knowledge, this is the first and only attempt to explain the effects of chanson de geste style in terms of neurological science. Pensom begins to consider the role of 'neural events' by observing similarities between the stylistic features of the poems and musical compositions. He criticises Heinemann's musical analogy of the poems as an explanation obscctnini per obscuris, and States that he can articulate the musical analogy with precise musical detail. This he does, but he proceeds to draw analogies of his own, neurological analogies, which, according to the standards by which he has judged Heinemann's analogy, are obsc~iriritmper obsciiris, since he neglccts to quote theories and experiments from the neurological sciences to support his idea. From the evidence of some stylistic sirnilarities between music and the poerns, he draws the conclusion thai the stylistic devices of each art constitute a 'cybemetic of aural perception'. In this staiement are two assumptions: the first, that the poems were intrnded to be heard rather than read, has been acknowledged by Pensom, but the second assumption. that this 'constnictional logic' only pertains to aural perception, is implicit and unfounded. In the discussion which follows, 1 shall argue that the repetitive art of the chansons de geste is indeed founded on a 'constructional logic' with a neurological basis, but a logic which govems perception and recognition, the poles of memory process. In the discussion which follows, perception is used very precisely to indicate an initial encounter with material, while recognition describes a re-encounter with the sarne materiai. The problems which have led to scepticism about audience awareness of repetition effects result from an outdatrd understanding of human memory. During the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, scientists and psychologists believed mernories to be permanent. Their belief in the permanence of memory traces led them to elaborate a theory of localization of function " ibid. pp. 196-7. which stated that the memory traces were situated in various brain centres, according to the nature of the memory. This theory is no longer tenable. Frederic C. Bartlett was the first to recognise the semi-permanence of memories. In a pioneering study, first published in 1932. he argues that to remember is to reconstruct: Remembering is not thc re-cxciiation of innumcrablc fixcd, lifclcss and fragmcntary traces. It is an imaginative rcconstruction, or construction, built out of thc relation of our attitudc towards a wliolc activc mass of organized past rcactions or cxpcricncc, and to a littlc outstanding dctail which commonly appcars in image or in Ianguagc form. It is thus hardly cvcr rcally cxact, cvcn in the most rudimcntriry criscs of rote rcçapitulation, and ii is not ai al1 important that it should be so." Recent advances in neurological science have revised radically theories of memory and reniembering. Currently in the field of contemporary neuroscientific research there are two models of memory. According to the first, which derivcs from the nineteenth-century model. the world is "computed" into perceptions which are then cornpared to previously leamed images stored in the brain. This model does not explain how the images are recognized as worthy of storage during the initial encounter. The second model of mernory haemerged from Gerald Edelman's theory of the brain which sought to explain neurophysiological function as a Danvinian system involving variation and selection.19 Edelrnan's theory of neuronal group selection airns to show that brain function, like structure, depends on context and history and not on localized functions and fixed memories, since if memories are fixed and permanent, they are useless to a human living in a constantly changing environment. The second model of memory questions whether perception itself represents a veridical view of the environment and asks if perception and recognition are independent brain functions. According to this second model, the brain categorizes stimuli in accordance with past experience and present needs and desires. This categorising activity is the bais of both perception and recognition. 123 The principal differences between these two models are as follows: 1 ) in the first model the act of perceiving and the act of recognising or remembering remain distinct, while the second model proposes that perception and recognition are essentially the same since both are a categorising activity 2) in the first model, the memory trace is permanent, in the second, rnemories are subject to constant change. Israel Rosenfield emphasises the extent to which memones transform in a book which explores the history of memory and the implications of the second model of memory: There rire no specific recollections in our brains; there are only the means for reorganizing put impressions, for giving the incoherent, dreamlike world of memory ri çoncrete redity. Memories are not tixed but rire constantly evolving gencralimtions - recreations of the past, whicli give us a sense of continuity, a sense of being, with ri past, a present, and a future. They are not discrete units that arc linkcd up over time but a dynamicnlly evolving system." A memory only becomes a memory in achieving significance in the context of the present. The categorising process which, according to the second model of memory, informs both perception and recognition can be demonstrated by considering Alvin M. Li berman, Ignatius G. Mattingly and Michml T. Turvey's theory of information structures." According to Libennan and his CO-researchersthere are different levels or streams of information, and we constant1y effect a series of conversions between one level of organization and another. The diffcrent levels of information organisation are essential because of the differing needs of V~~OUShuman activities. For example, we say The nion wlio sings rnarried the preity girl, but the semantic representation which best serves the needs of long-tenn memory would be The nian sings. The man married the girl. The girl is pretty. The redundancy of the repetition serves to protect the 19 Nert ru1 Da min ism. " The btvenrio~tof Mentory, p. 76. " 'Language Codes and Memory Codes' in Coding Processes in Hitutan Mrntory. ed. by A. W. Melton and E. Martin (New York: Winston, 1972)' 307-34. long-term rnemory and enables new combinations of the features of the statement. The breakdown, or categorisation process also occurs at the level of individual words. The meming of individual words cmbe represented as bundles of elements, or semantic features. The word 'bachelor' consists of the following components: [+Noun +Count +Animate +Human +Adult +Male - ~arried]."Not only is the remembered thing a bundle of attributes, it is also a junction of encoding dimensions. When we rernember, the remembered thing or event is 'nested' within a structure of encoding circumstances, which, according to J. J. Gibson reflect the 'nested' structure of the environment in which we live:" Physical rcality has structure at al1 lcvcls of mctric sizc from atoms to galrixics. Within the intcrmcdiatc band of tcrrcstrial sizes, thc environmcnt of animals and men is itself structurcd rit various Icvcls of sizc. At the lcvcl of kilomctcrs, thc carth is shaped by mountains and hills. At the lcvcl of mclcrs, it is formcd by boulders and cliffs and canyons, and also by trccs. It is still more finely structurcd ai thc Icvcl of millimcters by pcbblcs and crystals and particlcs of soil, and also by lcavcs and grass bladcs and plant cells. All thcsc things are structural units of the tcrrcstrial cnvironmcnt, what wc looscly cal1 thc forms or shapc of our familiar world. Now, with rcspect to thesc units, an essential point of thcory must bc emphasizcd. The smallcr units are crnbcddcd in the largcr units by whai 1 will cal1 ncsting. For cxamplc, canyons arc ncstcd within mountains; trccs arc ncsted within canyons; leaves arc ncstcd within trccs; and cclls arc ncstcd within Icrivcs. Thcrc arc forms within forms both up and down thc sçalc of sizc. Units arc ncstcd within Iargcr units. Things arc componcnts of othcr things. They would constitutc a hicrarchy cxccpt that this hierarchy is not catcgorical but full of transitions and ovcrlaps. Hcnce, for the terrestria1 cnvironmcnt, thcrc is no propcr unit in tcrms of which it can bc analyzcd once and for al^.'^ Vinaver's question seems based on the outdated understanding of rnemory function which assumes that in order to recognise repetition, the audience would have to remember the original occurrence and match it with the repetition. If audience memory works by matching a verse to its previous occurrence, then this raises the question of how the original occurrence of the verse is singled out for memorisation to enable recognition of subsequent repetitions, since the verse which repeats does not differ in any way from those surrounding it until the moment of its repetition. In that case, the only possible option in this matching mode1 of memory is to register '' Whar is Cognitive Poetics 1, p. 16. Nesting is I. J. Gibson's metaphor, but in the field of literature, we may prefer 'contextualising' or 'historicising'. Cf. also Ulric Neisser, 'Nested structure in autobiographical memory', in Arrtobiograplticul Mernory, ed. David C. Rubin (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1986), 7 1-8 1. 24 J. J. Gibson, The Ecological Approtxch to Visual Perceptiori (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 19791, p. 9. 125 all the verses of the poem and constantly scan each new verse against all of those already registered. It would be improbable that anyone would find repetition in the poems, since many of the repeating verses are inexact repetitions. The developments in memory theory suggest new ways of understanding audience recognition of repetition which are not based on a matching and scanning model, but on categorisation. There are three important points in the preceding review which will help shape an understanding of audience cognition of a disjunctive echo in the Oxford Roland: a) perception and recognition are essential 1y the same process, b) both involve categorisation which assumes a form conducive to recombination, c) the encoding circumstance is as important as the information encoded. The application of these points to repeating verses in the clra~uonsdr geste produces the following: a) audience recognition of the repetition of a verse(s) involves essentially the same cognitive process as the perception of the original occurrence of this verse, b) each verse as soon as it is read / heard has an innate potential for repetition and recombination, c) the context of the repetition is as important as the repetition itself. This means that when a verse is read / heard for the first time, it is categorised as a group of constituent elements. If this verse is repeated, it will be re-categorised in terms which are slightly different from the original categorisation, and which accord with its immediate narrative context. The degree of correspondence between the first and second categorisation models is a measure of the probability of audience recognition. If the first categorisation has relevance to the categorisation of the second, then there will be recall and the repetition will be apparent to the remembering audiencea2' LS This is analogous to Edelman's theory that a memory can only exist if it has relevance to the here and now. In the Oxford Roland there is a series of four addresses, each of which repeat elements of the others." In the first instance Blancandrin addresses Charlemagne, in the second Blancandrin addresses Marsile, in the third Ganelon addresses Marsile, and in the fourth Ganelon addresses Charlemagne. Each address occurs in a different laisse and three of the four are at the beginning of the laisse." 1 have highlighted in bold type one verse which repeats in al1 four addresses, italicised repetitions common only to A and C, and underlined those appearing only in C and D. The analysis which follows, however, focuses only on the repetition which is common to al1 four addresses. A Blancandrins ad prcmcrcins parldd B lancadrin addrcsscs Charlcmagnc E dist al rei: Salvét seiez de Deu, Le gloriits qite devrrrls aiirer lço vus rncrridet reis Marsilies li bers (vv. 123-5) Blancandrins vint devant Marsiliun, Blancadrin addrcsscs Marsile Par Ic puig[n[ tint Ic cuntc Guenclun, Et dist al rei: 'Salvez seiez de Mahun E dlApollin, qui seintcs lcis tenuns. (vv. 4 14-8) Mais Ic qucns Gucnes se fut ben purpcnsét, Ganclon addrcsscs Marsilc Par grant savcr cumcncet a arlcr Cumc cclui ki bcn faim Ic set. E dist al rei: 'Sûlvez seiez de Deu, Li glorïrrs qrri cfevtrnt criirer! Iço vlrs ntnttdet Carleniagnes li ber (vv. 425-30) Gucnes i vint, li fcls, li parjurez; Ganelon addrcsscs Charlcmagnc Par grant veisdie cumencet a parler E dist al rei: Salvez seiez de Deu (vv. 674-6) When an audience reads or hem A it perceives the verses in a process of categorisation based on the verses and the context in which they occur, and constructs paradigms which permit variation. The degree of variation in the paradigm is determined by the context. For example, in " These addresses are discussed by Pensom, Literary Technique, pp. 98-9; Edmond Faral, Ln Chanson de Roland (Paris: Mellottée, 19321, p. 2 10; P. R. Lonigan, 'Ganelon before Marsile', Stucli Frartcesi, 14 (1970). 276-80. " While this is not integral to the following interpretation, it is interesting to point out that the laisse initial position of three of the addresses means that the addresses occur a similar context: in the case of an aurai reception, the laisse initial position in each case means that each address coincides with a change of assonance; in the case of ri manuscript reading reception, the initial letter of each address will be marked by a colour and pcrhrips finials; in 127 the epic world of the French cizarisorz de geste a rnessenger can be either pagan or Christian. The semantic content of the first address is Pngnri messerzger addresses Christian king. This may be categorised as: messenger (pagan) addresses king (Christian) in the name of a god (Deu) This is an act of perception, not memorisation. The semantic content of B is Pagan nlesseriger addresses pcrgnrz king. This may be categorised as: messenger (pagan) addresses king (pagan) in the name of a god (Mahumet) When we read or hem B it strikes a chord with us not becausc we have stored in Our brains an exact record of verse 123, but because the categorisation we made for A is relevant to our perception of B. The relevance of the paradigm to B permi ts A to be remembered at B in spi te of the variation in B of Blancandrin addressing Marsile in the name of Mohammed, not in the name of God. The seman tic content of C is Chistir~nnrcssei~ger nddresses pagan king. At C we remember both A and B, since the paradigm which emerged from our categorising perception of A and B are relevant to our perception of C: messenger (Christian) addresses king (pagan) in the name of a god (Deu) The content of the fourth address is Christian messenger addresses Christian king. Once again, the paradigm is relevant, and thus we remember A, B and C,as we categorise D: messenger (Christian) addresses king (Christian) in the name of a god (Deu) The audience perceives each of the repetitions in terms of categories, and one instance of a verse is recognised as a repetition of another because the categorisation of the first occurrence is valid for the second occurrence. The first occurrence is remembered because the manner in the case of a modern printed text reading reception, the beginning of the laisse will be rnarked by preceding blank 128 which it has been perceived / categorised has relevance beyond the individual verse. Memory is not so much a record of a remembered item as a procedure.'* According to this interpretation, if the categorisation of a verse does not have relevance beyond its occurrence, then the verse will not be remembered, even if it is repeated. This account deals with the first of the two difficulties outlined at the beginning which are associated with looking at repetition in the cftnnson de geste from an audience's perspective: the audience's recognition of the repetition. The second difficulty concerns the audience's perception of the aesthetic effects of repetition. The process of perception and recognition described above also suggests how repetition produces effects. The aesthetic effect of the disjunctive echo does not reside in any one of the instances of the repetition, nor in the series of repetitions. The aesthetic effect may be implicit in the repeating structure, but it is in the audience's mind, once it has recognised the fact of the repetition, that new meaning is created at the junction in the audience's mind betwmn the various parts of the repeating series. The paradigms which support audience perception and recognition are models which facilitate and encourage cornparison. When the brain recognises the paradigm constructeci at the categorisation of A to be relevant to B there are two consequences: the first, that A is recalled at B, we have encountered above: the second is that the categorisation of A and B according to the same paradigm highlights the differences in the variable elements. The recall of A in the context of B highlights variations in the addressee and in the narne of the god invoked at the address: in the first instance Blancandrin addresses Charlemagne in the space and a laisse number. " 'Mernories, then, are the procedures that are responsible for the organization of perceptions. They are themselves generalizaiions of previous experiences, ways of organizing sensory stimuli that permit them to be related to past experience.' Rosenficld, The Invention of Memoty, p. 62. 129 narne of God, and in the second, he addresses Marsile in the name of Mohammed. Since the variation in the name of the god invoked occurs at the same time as the variation in the addressee, then the reader might infer that Deu is qpropriate to a Christian addressee and Mahun to a pagan addressee. From this recognition of variation within the paradigm emerges the idea of Blancandrin's diplomacy. At C, both A and B are recalled, as a result of the relevance of the paradigm. Once again there are variations. Ganelon replaces the Blancandrin as the speaker, and the name of the god invoked is Deu, as in A. Recall of A in the context of C, reveals a pattern of reversal: the pagan messenger has been replaced in C by a Christian messenger and the Christian king bas been replaced by a pagan king. The paradigm permits us to recognise subtleties such as the terms of the address, which at the first rcading of A are not evident. It is not until we have encountered B and remembered A in the context of B that we will be aware that the pagan messenger has üddressed a Christian king wi th a Christian greeting (A), and that at C the Christian messenger has addressed a pagan king with a Christian address." From this recognition emerges the idea that in contrast to Blancandrin's diplomacy, Ganelon is deliberately riling the pagan king. The process of cornparison initiated by the categorisation involved in perception and recognition may be elucidated by Arthur Markman and Dedre Gentner's theory of sirni~arit~.~~ It used to be thought that when one recognised similarity between two scenes, two people, etc., the brain quite simply drew up a list of what the pair had in common. Markman and Gentner have shown that this understanding of the recognition of sirnilarity is not sufficiently cornplex, that when faced with two scenes and asked to state what they have in common, the Iiuman brain '"ensom points out that 'Out of context. Ganelon is a brave ambasador, fearlessly confronting the pyan with an appeal to the Christian God.' Literary Technique, p. 99. Fm1 (p. 2 10) and Lonigan (p. 277) have proposcd that Ganelon's appeal to the Christian God in the presence of a pagan king indicates his intent to infuriate Marsile. 'Splitting the Differences: A Structural Alignment View of Similarity', Journal of Memory and ui,igiruge, 32 (1993), 5 17-35. 130 will first constnict a model which will fit both scenes, then it will cornpute not only similarities but also differences. One of the examples given by Markman and Gentner involves two drawings: the first of a garage where a robot arm is repairing a car and the second of a garage where a man is repairing a robot m.When determining the sirnilarity of the two pictures, we could focus on the similarity of the two robot ms.However, according to Markman and Gentner's model of the structural alignment process, the brain will takc the two representations and seek the 'maximal structurally consistent match'." For example, if we take 'repairing' to be the model which associates both drawings, then the robot arm in the first scene is placed in correspondence with the man in the second scene, because both are repairing something, and the car in the fïrst scene is placed in correspondence with the robot arm in the second scene, because they are both being repaired. Markman and Gentner distinguish between ulignrible differences and non-crlignable differences. In the exarnple given above, an cdignrtble difference between the two drawings would be the robot repainng the car in the first drawing and the man repairing the robot arm in the second. Since this difference occurs within a cornmon model of 'repairing ', it is known an alignable difference. Other differences which are independent of the structure of the model, for example, a box of tools in the corner of the second drawing, which does not rnap ont0 any object in the first, are non-alignable differences. Similar things or scenes will have many similarities, many alignable differences and few non-alignable differences. Different things or scenes will have few similarities, few alignable differences and many non-alignable differences. The aesthetic effects of the disjunctive echo depend not upon the similarity of each " ibid. p. 5 18. 131 instance of the repetition to the next, but rather on the alignable differences. For exarnple, in the model of the disjunctive echo discussed above, messenger addresses king in the narne of a god, an alignable difference is the greeting Salvét seiez de Mahun in B. The model constructed for the purposes of perception, and which enables recognition of similarity, also highlights alignable differences. Using Gerald Edelman's theory of memory, 1 have suggested an explanation of the mechanics of the recognition of repetition, and the perception of its aesthetic effect. The most important aspect of Edelman's theory is his emphasis on context: the structuring and organisation of perceptions is dependent on context. The significance of context to the recognition of repetition and its effects has been dcmonstrated above. The fact that repetition effects can be explained in terms of a theory of memory which privileges context, rein forces the traditional critical opinion that repetition, and the unit structures of the laisse, and the episode are closely related. Chepter 5 Post Epic Echo ...ilie gestalrm of nieniory extract ttientiitig froni arrrl irtipose order oti the tiaritral hererogerteity of life. ij tliis is so, rliëti die rratliriorial realisiic novel cati rio loriger be regardet1 (1s n t~iirror-rcflectioriof reality, but is, radier, a paradigm of the striîctiire of rnentory, sirice renlity cari only hë rciairictl as redity if it is represetiied Ui reritis of areatiittg. Wol fgang 1ser' The aesthetic of repetition which nuances the ckansom de geste with moments of driima, comedy and psychological commentary has been subordinated to the theory of oral composition since Rychner's seminal book.? The close textual criticism which elucidates the mechanics of the effects is accepted with reluctance, on the assurnption that a listening audience could hardly hope to appreciate the complexity of effect which a critic has explained in thirty pages of precise prose.3 The aim of this chapter is to present examples of disjunctive echo in modem works where the aesthetic function cannot be treated as a result of oral origins. 1 shall look briefly at examples of disjunctive echo in three contemporary Hollywood films (random examples dictated by my recent viewing), before tuming to Proust's use of repetition in A lri reclierche dit te»npsperdu, an interesting point of cornparison wi th the clrctrisor~sde geste since structurüll y and thernatically i t is concerned with memory. The examples from Great Expectations, The Titanic and A Perfect Mitrder illustrate verbal and narrative repetition.' In Great Expectations which is a modem transposition of the Dickens 1 The Act of Reuding: A Theos, of Acstlietic Resporise (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978), p. 125, rny emphasis. La Cliansoti de Geste. For an example of the comic effect of repetition in the cltonsotts de geste, see my analysis of a long laisse in Hie de Saint Gille, Chapter 1, pp. 39-47. For on example of the dromatic effect of repetition, see my anrilysis of a battle scene in Raoul de Cambrai, Chapter 2, pp. 52-63. For an example of psychoiogical commentary, see my analysis of a disjunctive echo in Atni et Amile, pp. 45-7. For Vinaver's objection to the aesthetic function of repetition. see p. 119. 4 Great E.rpectarions, 2oh Century Fox (1998). director Alfonso Cuar6n; The Titanic, Paramount Pictures and 20Ih Century Fox, a production of Lightstorm Entertainment (1998), director James Cameron; A Perfecr Murder, Warner Bros (1998), director Andrew Davis. 133 novel, there are two notable repetitions, the first of which is a partial verbal repetition. When the young Finnegan Bell is invited to Paradiso Perduto, the home of the eccentric Ms. Nora Dinsmoor (Dickens' Miss Havisham), who in her younger years was left standing at the altar on her wedding day, she places Finnegan's hand over her chest, and asks, 'What do you feel?' The naive youngster replies, 'Your boob.' Ms. Dinsmoor corrects him, 'My heart. It's broken.' This incident occurs at the beginning of the film, which then follows Finnegan's desperate love for Ms. Dinsmoor's niece, Estella, encouraged and then thwarted by Ms. Dinsrnoor. When Finnegan travels to New York to pursue his career as an artist, he leams that Estella is soon to be wed. He rushes to the house where he expects to find her, and instead finds Ms. Dinsmoor. Here he says to Ms. Dinsmoor, 'Give me your hand' which hc then places over his heart, saying, 'It's broken.' The repetition is an effective device which communicates Finnegan's despair and the tragedy of his situation both to Ms. Dinsmoor and to the film audience with a stylish economy of expression which has a poignancy a more verbose accusation against Ms. Dinsmoor wouid have lacked. The repetition of action and words emphasises the reversa1 which has occurred in the interim, apparently engineered by the old eccentric. This repetition, amounting to no more than a couple of minutes of film footage, encapsulates the prernise of the film which explores the scheming of the bitter, heartbroken old woman to avenge herself against the male sex (from one broken hem to a second). The second repetition in Great Expectations, less complex in terms of effect, similarly spans the length of the film. At the beginning, Finnegan, drinking at a water fountain in Paradiso Perduto, is surprised by the precocious Estella who intempts his drinking with a kiss. This scene recurs when Estella once again joins Finnegan, newly arrived in New York, in 134 drinking from a public water fountain. The effect of this repetition is to emphasise a mysterious history, fate or sinister manipulation which unites the young couple. The repetition in The Titanic is narrative and visual. When Rose invites Jack, a third class passenger, io a first class dinner, he shows up, dashing, in borrowed black tie. However, the stilted dinner conversation strikes him as vain and empty, and he excuses himself. Before leaving, he passes Rose a note which asks her to meet him at the clock. The carnera follows her line of vision as she approaches the clock where Jack is waiting on the staircase with his back to her. The repetition of this scene occurs at the end of the film where Rose's passage to death is presented as a dream sequence in which she retums to the Titanic and there, at the foot of the staircase, alive and waving to greet her are al1 those who perished in the disaster. When she looks to the stairccise, Jack, standing with his back to her. waiting for her, turns around. Jressed in his own workrnan's clothes. This repetition, poignant in its minor variation from the original occurrence, is the conclusion to the film. In the case of A Pegect Murder the repetition is exact verbal repetition. To suminarise very briefiy, a man married to a rich wife, Emily, discovers that she is having an affair with a young artist, and he attempts to blackrnail the artist to murder her. The plan fails because Emily is more than a match for the criminal the artist recruits to kill her. On the day before the planned murder, the husband steps out of a black limousine, surprising Ernily on the sidewalk as she is rushing to lunch with her lover. She, surprised, and suspecting that her husband has uncovered her liaison, looks homfied. At this point her husband says, 'That's not happiness to see me, is it?' She replies, 'Try surprise.' When she resists his luncheon invitation. he says, 'And what if there were no tomorrow? Wouldn't you like to have lunch one last time with your husband?'. After the murder attempt, he accompanies her to her parents' home, where Emily is put to bed. When she trîes to figure things out in her husband's presencr, he desists, tefling her that 135 there will be plenty of time tomorrow, to which she responds, 'And what if there were no tomorrow?'. After Emily has recuperated and retumed to the city, she starts to question details of the murder attempt which lead her to suspect her husband's involvement. The second repetition occurs when Emily, sitting in her husband's office chair, surprises him on his return from the bank where he has just withdrawn a vast sum of rnoney to buy the lover's silence. Ernily, seeing her husband's displeasure to find her there, says, 'That's not happiness to see me, is it?'. In each case Emily's repetition of her husband's words strike a note of menace and signal her suspicion to her husband and to the film audience. The repeated lines, 'That's not happiness to see me, is it?' and 'And what if there were no tomorrow?' originally occur together. When they are repeated, they repeat in separate scenes. This splitting of the lines at their repetition affords the director the opportunity to extend Emily's process of illumination conceming her husband's guilt. These repetitions in films recreate some aspects of the performative environment of the churisons de geste. First of dl, the audience is listening to the film, as a twelfth-century audience would have listened to a chanson de geste; thus both audiences are aurally responsive to verbal repetition. Secondly, the repetitions in both the films and the medieval poems may occur at a great distance from the original occurrence and yet are still recognised by the audience. The films parallel chanson de geste technique not simply in their use of repetition, but in the details of the execution of the repetitions, and in their effects. The repetitions discussed above illustrate exact verbal repetition, repetition with meaningful minor variation, repetition with a reversal of situation and repetition which separates the parts of the original occurrence. The effects range from menace and poignancy, which are ciramatic effects, to the 136 supplementation of narrative information with significance which occurs at the conflation of the two ternis of the repetition.' Proustian use of repetition provides another interesting analogy to the echoes in the mnemonically pattemed chansons de geste. In the terminology of cognitive science, Proust's work illustrates the workings of an associative model of mem~ry.~A la Recherche du Temps Perdu is perhaps the most obvious example of a modem work which is structured according to memory.' The narrative follows the meanderings of the narrator's memory, moving in times across decades, and in space across miles, whenever some event or sensation activates his 'mémoire involontaire'. Repetition in A la Recherche du Temps Perdu has attracted the attention of critics like Philip Kolb, Charles Blondel, Margaret Gray, and Éliane Boucquey. Kolb has argued that the many and vaned repetitions 'represent conscious efforts to improve style, or matenal, or b~th.'~ A passage may be repeated once, or twice, the repetition may occur immediately, or hundreds of pages after the original occurrence, the narrator may draw attention to the repetition, or it may be unmarked until it is discovered by the reader. There may be repetition of narrative incident, verbal repetition, or both. ' See footnote 2 for examples in the chansons de geste. ci ci William K. Estes formulates a simple definition of the association theory in 'Structural Aspects of Associative Models for Memory' in The Striicture of Hirrnan Meniory, ed. Charles N. Cofer, (San Francisco: W. H. Freemrin and Company, 1976), 3 1-53: 'Association theory originated in the concept that experiences are represented in an individual's memory as separate units which become linked so that the reactivation of one unit leads more or less automatically to reactivation of those with which it is associated.' pp. 35-6. One of the most important current associative models of memory is known as SAM (search of associative memory), developed by Richard Shiffrin and his colleagues. See Cognitive Psychology, Douglas L. Medin and Brian H. Ross, 2" ed. (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1997) pp. 219-25 for a brief introduction. 'The works of the eady twentieth century which experimented with a nmativc technique based on the Stream of consciousness are predicated to a large extent on memory function. See, for example, the works of Virginia Woolfe, Marcel Proust and James Joyce. 'Inadvertent Repetitions of Material in A la recherche drr temps perdu*.Publications of the Modem Lungtlage Association 5 1.l (1936), 249-62. p. 262. Cited by Margaret E. Gray, Postmodem Proust (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992), p. 93, note 3. 137 In some cases the narrator conflates various incidents, narrated once, and observes that they repeat: a) Charles Blondel points to the 'triple répétition' of the old duc de Guermantes' jealous infatuation with Madame de Fomheville (Odette) which is recognised by the narrator himselt9 ...le vieillard, imitant, dans cc dernier amour, la manithe de ccux qu'il avait eus autrefois, séqucstrait sa mriîtrcssc, au point quc, si nion amour pour Albcrtinc avait rkpCté, avcc dc grandes variations, l'amour dc Swann pour Odctte, l'amour de M. de Guermantes rappelait celui quc j'avais CU pour ~lhertine.'~ b) In A ['Ombre des jeunesfilles enflerîrs. Marcel visits Albertine in her room at al bec.' ' In Le Côté de Guermanies, the scenario repeats with variation when Albertine visits Marcel in his room in paris.'' Marcel draws attention to this repetition. and the reversa1 of roles: ...j e scntais, dans la mCme jolie fille qui venait dc s'asseoir pr?s dc mon lit, quclquc chosc dc diffErcnt, ct, dans ces lignes qui dans Ic regard ct Ics traits du visnçc expriment la volont6 habitucllc, un çhüngcmcnt dc front, unc dcmi-conversion commc si y avriicnt c'té détruites ccs résistances contrc lcsqucllcs jc mlEtais brisé à Balbec, un soir dbji lointain oh nous formions un couplc symitriquc mais invcrsc dc cclui dc I'aprCs-midi actuelle, puisqu'alors c'était cllc qui était couchéc ct moi, 5 cbté dc son In another case, an incident narrated twice with verbal repetition creates new significance in the conflation: c) An anecdote about Morel's claims to Charlus that he need evenings free for algebra classes which occurs in Sodome et Gomorrhe recurs in La Prisonnière.14This example will be presented later in more detail. La psychogrupltie de Marcel Proitst (Paris: Librairie Vrin, 1932), p. 12 1. Sec Gray, pp. 93-4, note 4. Whenevcr a quotation from A lu recherche drt tentps perd11 has been cited by one of the critics meniioned in this chapter, 1 rcfer to the location of the critic's citation. In addition, since there is no conscnsus among these critics conccrning their usc of an edition of the work, 1 provide my own references to the quotations from the following edition: A ln recherche dl1 temps perdu, 3 vols (Paris: Gallimard, Bibliothhque de la Pléiade, 1954). 'O Le Temps Retrouvé, III, p. 1O 15. 'l 1, pp. 932-4. " II, pp. 350-70. " II, p. 353. '" See Gray, pp. 75-80. Sodome et Gomorrhe, II, pp. 1077-8; Lu Prisonnière, III, pp. 162-3. Élime Boucquey refers to repetitions of incident which rernain hidden for the reader to discover, as in the chansons de d) The bell towers of Martinville are described as Marcel views them from a moving carriage. and again irnmediately following in a piece which he wntes for the ~i~aro.'~ e) There are two descriptions of a Balbec sunset: the first as seen through a window, the second as a reflection in the glas of the armoire." f) There are two descriptions of the stained glass windows of Saint Hilaire: the first as seen through the eyes of the child Marcel, and the second. as seen through the eyes of the priest.'" g) The antichanber of the Guermantes in Le Temps Retroicvé where the narraior picks up a collector's edition of George Sand's Frariçois le Clinnrpi parallels the childhood room at Combray where Marcel's mother read to him from this same book.'" These are just some of the repetitions which are woven into the fabric of A ln Reclicrche. The same questions which have been asked conceming the redundancy of repetition and its effect in the clzarzsons de geste present themselves to the Proustian reader, but the fact that the narrator draws attention to some of the repetitions by evoking the original occurrence ai the recurrence suggests that the repetition is not rediindant ."' 1 shall analyse in detail repetitions c) and ci) with the aim of illustratinp how audience recognition of the repetitions amplifies the meaning of the text. - - l5 U~JChasseur dans 1 'image: Proust et le temps caché (Paris: Amand Colin, 1992). 16 See Boucquey, pp. 32-40. The two descriptions of the bell towers occur consccutivcly in Dli côtP de cire: Sbr.tmtt: 1, pp. 180-1 ; 1, pp. 18 1-2. 17 Discussed by Boucquey, pp. 55-6,59-80. See A 1 'Ombre des jewtesfilles enffeurs: 1, pp. 802-6. 18 Mentioned by Boucquey, pp. 55-6. The descriptions occur in Du côté de chez Swartri 1, pp. 59-60; 1, pp. 103-4. 19 Mentioned by Boucquey, pp. 80-8, although she does not provide rcfercnccs to the incidents. Sec Di4 côte'de chez Swarin: 1, pp. 4 1-3; Le Temps retrouvé: III, p. 883. 'O In such a lengthy work as A la recherche. there is always the possibility that the auihor is inadvertently rcpcaiing material which he has already used. Margaret E. Gray suggests (p. 93, note 2) that a possible biographicril explanation for the rcpeated algebra anecdote is that Proust died while working on the tfiird typescript of Ln Prisonnière, where the anecdote recurs. 139 The anecdote conceming Morel's interest in algebra classes (c above) first appears in Sodome et Gomorrhe. Morel places himself at Charlus' disposa1 on the condition that he be free in the evenings since he wishes to pursue his algebra course. The Baron is highly suspicious that Morel's algebra classes are a cover for some other activity: Mais souvent M. de Charlus avait sur la rkalité de la leçon de violon des doutes d'autant plus grands que souvent Ic musicien invoquait des prétextes d'un autre genre, d'un ordre entièrement ddsintércssé au point de vue matériel et d'ailleurs absurdes. Morel ne pouvait ainsi s'empêcher de présenter une image de sa vie, mais volontairement, et involontairement aussi, tellement enténébrée, que certaines parties seules se laissaient distinguer. Pendant un mois il se mit à la disposition de LM.de Charlus, a condition de garder ses soirées libres, car il désirait suivre avec continuité ses cours d'algèbre. Venir voir après M. de Charlus? Ah, c'était impossible, les cours duraient parfois fort tard. ( The repetition of the anecdote about the aigebra classes occurs in Ln Prisonnière. Once again Morel promises to be at the Baron's disposa1 if he can have the evenings free 'car il désirait pouvoir après le dîner aller suivre un cours d'algèbre' (III, 668-9): Aussitôi ma pensée fit un brusque crochet. et c'est au caractilrc de Mord, à ccrtaincs des singularitCs dc cc caractkre, que je me mis à songer. Au reste - et ccla pouvait se conjoindre, mais non sc confondre avec la neurasthdnic qui le rongeait - Morcl avait l'habitude de parlcr dc sa vic, mais en présentait une image si enténébrée qu'il était très difficile de rien distinguer. II se mettait, par exemple, à la complète disposition de M. de Charlus à condition de garder ses soirées libres, car il desirait pouvoir, après le dîner, aller suivre un cours d'algèbre. M. de Charlus autorisait, mais dcmandait à le voir après. «Impossible, c'est une vieille peinture italienne» (cette plaisanterie n'a aucun sens, transcrite ainsi; mais M. de Charlus ayant fait lire à Morel L'Education setitinientule, à t'avant-dernier chapitre duquel Frédéric Moreau dit cette phrase, par plaisanterie Morcl ne prononçait jamais le mot «impossible» sans Ic faire suivre de ceux-ci: «ciest une vieille peinture italienne»), ((lecours dure souvent fort tard et c'est déj5 un grand ddrangement pour le professeur qui, naturellement, serait froissé.. - Mais il n'y a même pas besoin dc cours, l'algèbre ce n'est pas la natation ni même l'anglais, cela s'apprend aussi bien dans un livre),, répliquait M. de Charlus, ayant deviné aussitôt dans le cours d'algkbre une de ces images où on ne pouvait rien débrouiller du tout. C'était peut-être une coucherie avec une femme, ou, si Morel cherchait i gagner de l'argent par des moyens louches et s'était affilié B la police secrète, une expidition avec des agents de la sûreté, et qui sait? pis encore, l'attente d'un gigolo dont on pourra avoir besoin dans une maison de prostitution. «Bien plus facilement même, dans un livre, répondait Morel à M. de Charlus, car on ne comprend rien à un cours d'algèbre. - Alors pourquoi ne l'étudies-tu pas plutôt chez moi où tu es tellement plus confortablement?» aurait pu répondre M. de Charlus, mais il s'en gardait bien, sachant qu'aussitôt, gardant seulement le même caractere nécessaire de réserver les heures du soir, le cours dialg2bre imaginé se fût changé immédiatement en une obligatoire leçon de danse ou de dessin. En quoi M. de Charlus put s'apercevoir qu'il se trompait, en partie du moins: Morel s'occupait souvent chez le ------" Sodome et Gomorrhe: II, pp. 1077-8. baron il résoudre des équations. M. de Charlus objecta bicn que l'algèbre ne pouvait guCre servir ii un vioiiniste. Morel riposta qu'elle était une distraction pour passer le temps et combattre la neurasthénie. Sans doute M. dc Charlus cût pu chercher à se renseigner, à apprendre ce qu'&aient, au vrai, ccs mystérieux et inéluctables cours d'algèbre qui ne se donnaient que la nuit. Mais pour s'occuper de dévidcr 1' f cheveau des occupations de Morel, M. de Charlus était trop engagé dans celles du monde." The juxtaposition of these passages draws attention to the fact that not only the anecdote, but some of its terms of expression repeat. The first account of the anecdote suggests a close relationship between Morel and Charlus and a dynamic of latent sexual jealousy. The second account is an extended version of the first: it repeats elements of the first, but between these it inserts new elements. For example, in the first account when Morel objects that he cannot see the Baron after his algebra lessons, he states simply that it is impossible since the lessons sometimes finish very late. The amplification that Morel never pronounces the word 'impossible' without the phrase, 'c'est une vieille peinture italienne', adopted from a work to which Charlus has introduced him, creates a more intimate tone of exchange between Morel and Charlus. This implied intimacy is also apparent in Morel's more circuitous excuses in the second account. In the first account he states simply that he cannot see Charlus after his algebra classes since the lessons finish late. In the second account, he extends his excuse with, 'et c'est déjà un grand dérangement pour le professeur qui naturellement serait froissé...'. Morel' s extended excuse betrays a sense of his guilt ai betraying the Baron. The more intimate tone of the conversation in the second account prepares for the intrusion of a new element in the expression of Charlus' suspicion. In the first account Charlus suspected Morel's involvernent with the police, in the second, in addition to illicit police activity, he suspects 'une coucherie avec une femme' or 'pis encore, l'attente d'un gigolo'. The latent sexual jealousy of the first account becomes explicit in the second. " fu Priso,inière: III, pp. 162-3. This passage and the one above are compared, pwiphrased, and cited in part by Gray, pp. 76-8. Margaret E. Gray analyses this repeated anecdote in a chapter on memory. neurology and narration in ~roust.~~She points out that immediately after the first account of the conversation between the Baron and Morel, the narrative recounts the activities of More1 on a certain Iate evening when he had refused to see the Baron: En tous cas Morel, quclquc objcçtion qu'on fit, réservait certaines hcurcs tardives, quc cc fût à causc dc I'algèhrc ou du violon. Une fois cc nc fut ni l'un ni I'autrc mais !c Princc dc Gucrmantes qui ...lui offrit cinquante francs pour passer la nuit ensemble dans la maison de fcmnics dc ~aincville.~~ The Baron discovers the location of Morel's activities and arranges for the owner of the establishment to be bribed to allow him to spy on Morel. Gray argues that by the tirne the algebra anecdote recurs, this brothel scene which is merely set in juxtaposition to the first account of the algebra anecdote has contracted a more significant relationship with the anecdote which finds its explanation in the brothel scene: The initial (Sodonie et Goniorrlie) account, in iurning aftcrward to a brothct sccnc, crists Morcl's rnystcrious algcbra classcs into contiguity with illicit crotic activity, maintaining, WC rçcall, ihat ihc algebra was not an alibi for thc brothcl visit. Thc association of algcbra and ihc brothcl is contextual, not causal - metonymic, not mctriphoric. In the second (La Prisonnith) üccount, howcvcr, this chancc contcxtual rclationship has contractcd significancc, suddcnly bccomc mcaningful; ihc litcral and contiguous 'brothcl' of thc first tclling has hcre becn swallowed up by the Baron's musings, his thcorics, absorbed as onc of his possible vcrsions of Morcl's nocturnal activity: indccd as the most threatcning cxplanütion of Morcl's algebra intcrcst (Pis encore, I'attcnte d'un gigolo dont on pourra avoir bcsoin dans unc maison dc prostitution). The brothcl sccnario has bccomc, for thc Baron, the fcarful possihlc answcr. thc explanation of the algcbra mystcry, having movcd from a contiguous, proximale status in thc first telling to a metaphoric rclation in the second account. From algcbra-studying and brothel-going as contiguous examples of Morel's evening activities in thc first account, the relation bccomes prcdicativc in the Baron's jealous imagination: for Mord, he suspects. algcbra is br~thel-~oin~.~' Gray's account suggests that the conflation of the first algebra anecdote with the account of the brothel produces the suspicion in the second account that the algebra classes are actually sexual encounters and that this conflation illustrates the metarnorphic qualities of memory and of the Baron's memory in particular. However, each occurrence of the anecdote is presented as an Postrnoden~Proust, pp. 67-94. '' ibid. pp. 77. Sodonie et Gomorrhe: II, p. 1078. Posrniodern Proust, p. 78. event which the narrator remembers. The first occurrence is presented with the following sentences: La station suivante du petit tram, Maincville, me rappclle justement un incident relatif à Morcl ct à M. dc ~harlus.'~ Le souvenir relatif à Morel se rapporte à un incident d'un ordre plus particulicr.27 The second account is introduced as follows: Jc ne sais pourquoi le cours dc mcs rêvcries, qui avait suivi jusquc-lh des souvcnirs dc musiquc, SC dÇtourna sur ceux qui ont étC 3 notre époque les meilleurs exkcutants et parmi lesquels, Ic surfaisant un pcu, je faisais figurer or el." However likely it is that Charlus explained the algebra classes to hirnself in terms of Morel's escapades at the brothel, and then re-presented the algebra exchange between Morel and himself in these terms, the fact is that this is not what the narrative says, since each account of the algebra exchange is a product of the narrafor's rnemory. Gray's interpretation suggests that the fïrst and the second anecdote are temporally differentiated, that the first account precedes the second which is coloured by an intervening incident. There is nothirig in the text to suggest that the difference between the first and the second account is temporal. In the interpiay of repetitions the text gains an extra dimension which emerges in the dynamic of comparison between the occurrence and the recurrence, and which resonates with unstated implications. For example, the fact that it is the narrator who twice remembers the anecdote, which one assumes miist have been related to him by either Morel or Charlus since these were the parties involved in the exchange, suggests that it is an anecdote which he has heard frequently, probably from the jealous Charlus. The effect of comparing the two accounts of the anecdote is to throw into relief their differences, and thus foreground the novelty of the second, highlighting the implied intimacy of Morel and Charlus, which in tum motivates Charlus' suspicion of Morel's sexual betrayal. Had either account stood alone, there would " II. p. 1075. '' II, p. 1076. 143 have been no foi1 for difference. Repetition forces the reader to read between the lines, or more exactly, to read between the repetitions, to balance the terms of an algebraic equation, thus questioning the authority of a single account. Whether the Baron's suspicion that Morel's algebra interest is a cover for sexual activity is the product of the conversion of a relationship of juxtaposition between the algebra and the brothel to one of predication, as Gray argues, or the effect of the Baron's more personal approach to the question of Morel's activities in the second account, the important point is that in order for the resonances described above to emerge from the text, the reader must bring the occurrence into mental proximity with its recurrence. This is exactly the process of collation which the aesthetics of repetition in the Old French epics demand of an audience. In spite of the similarities between the use of repetition in Proust and the chansons de geste, Proust engages in a much more sophisticated garne than the rnedieval poets. Éliane Boucquey has argued provocatively that inscribed in the Proustian iext is a hidden agenda for the reader." In brief her thesis is that it is the burden of the reader to senrch out the temps perd< which the narrator ordy partially recuperates. She points out that sometimes the narrator fumbles for a lost rnemory, and cannot End it. Frequently, however, he has described the forgotten incident in the preceding prose. Boucquey elaborates a code for the reader's discovery of the narrator's forgotten memory. It consists of recognising a repetition in the text, which leads to the discovery of a yet another, hidden repetition. One of Boucquey's examples concerns the famous bel1 towers of Martinville. When the nmator sees the three bel1 towers '' III, p. 162. 39 Un chasseur dans l'image. '...Proust n'aurait pas retrouvé certains souvenirs qui semblaient prêts à émerger de sa mémoire ...... loin d'avoir perdu des souvenirs si précieux, Proust les a cachés dans son livre. II les propose aujourd'hui encore ZL la recherche de ses lecteurs, de ceux qui vivent après lui dans le Temps. II nous légua ce livre comme une énigme à rdsoudre. D'ailleurs le titre invite 'à la recherche du temps perdu': un temps caché par l'auteur, perdu par le narrateur. à retrouver par le lecteur.' pp. 15-6. 144 from a rnoving carriage he is troubled by a memory which the bel1 towers evoke, and which he is unable to locate: En constatant, cn notant la forme dc leur flèche, le déplaccmcnt de leurs lignes, l'ensoleillement de Icur surface, je scntais quc jc n'allais pas au bout de mon impression, que quclquc chosc était dcrriiirc cc mouvement, derrièrc cettc clarté, quclquc chose qu'ils scmblaicnt contenir et dérobcr à la fois." This description of the bell towers is followed not by a summoning of the lost memory, but by another description of the three bell towers, which is the narrator's first submission to Figaro. Unable to retrieve the memory which he senses behind the three bell towers of Martinville, the narrator applies his effort to a literary representation of the scene. To use the ierminology of de Saussure, when the narrator cannot locate the in absenria term of the metaphor, he tums to the in pmesentia tems of metonymy." Boucquey draws attention to the fact that the Figrrin passage, abandoning the search for the lost term of the metaphorical relationship between the bell towers and the forgotten memory, explores 'les relations métonymiques déployées dans les trois dimensions de l'espace' of the bell t~wers.~'Thus it would appear that the hazily perceived memory has been lost. However, the forgotten memory is recounted in the preceding pages in a third description. This forgotten memory is the childhood experience of the single bell tower of Saint-Hilaire at Combray, which from certain perspectives undenvent multiplication, 'inscrivant sa figure inoubliable à l'horizon ..., fil[ant] tour à tour sur tous les sillons du ciel, faisant courir en tous sens son petit coq de fer.733Boucquey demonstrates that the first term of this trio of repetitions is presented in such a way that by the time the reader approaches the second term, when the narrator is scanning for his lost memory, the reader has forgotten the first term, but still, with Proust, has the sense that there is something familiar in 'O Dir côté de chez Swonn: 1, p. 180. See footnofe 16. '' Un Chasseur dons 1 'image, p. 26. " ibici., p. 73. " Du côté de chez Swonn: i, p. 63. the description of the Martinville bel1 towers. Boucquey argues that Proust achieves this temporary arnnesia in the reader by inverting the details of the first and second ternis of the repetition, such that there is a reversai of darkness and lightness, humidity and dryness, the veriical and the horizontal. She proposes an analogy with Jour et nuit of M. C. Escher, explaining that it is as difficult for the Proustian reader to concentrate simultaneously on the original occurrence and its first repetition, as it is for the eye to view simultaneously both the black and the white birds of Escher's work." The aim of instilling a partial amnesia in the reader is to activate a retrogressive reading strategy which will lead the reader to rediscover the forgotten memory, and to recover the temps perdu of the narrator. Proust, who has structured his text according to an associative mode1 of memory, plays with repetitions, and so engages his reader's memory, in the sarne way as the poets who have pattemed the clmnsons de geste on mnemonic theory. In the case of the chansons de geste the art of repetition stands without metatextual commentary. Proust, however, refers implicitly to the processes in which his reader wili be lead to engage. He states explicitly the principle of his art in Le Temps retrouvl when he wriies: On peut filir~se su~cécierindéfiniment dans une dcscription lcs objets qui figuraient dans le lieu decrit; la vérité ne commenccra qu'au moment où l'écrivain prendra deux objets différents, posera leur rapport, analogue dans le monde de l'art Li celui qu'cst le rapport unique dc la loi causale dans 1c monde de la scicncc, et les enfermera dans les anneaux nécessaires d'un beau stylc; même ainsi que la vie, quand, cn rapprochant une qualité coinniune à deux sensations, il dégagcra leur esscncc commune en Ics réunissant l'une à l'autre pour les soustraire aux contingences du temps, dans une rn~ta~hore.'~ The 'truth' only begins when the writer takes two different objects and weighs one against the other. This applies equally well to the reader for whom the 'truth', or the full resonance of the Proustian text, or the chansons de geste for that matter, becomes apparent when he / she 34 Un Chasseur dans 1 'image, pp. 30- 1. '' 111, p. 889. recognises the different components of a repetition and mentaily juxtaposes them for the purpose of cornparison. Proust describes the operation of rapprochement and distillation of difference, which informs an aesthetics of repetition, when he describes his memory function: Alors ma mémoire affirmait sans doutc la différence dcs sensations; mais clic ne faisait que combiner entre eux des éldmcnts horn~~èncs.'~ Faced with the repetitions of experience, his memory groups similar experiences together, pares them into an archetypal representation, and takes note of differen~es.~~Human memory will not preserve a memory of every train journey, but will merge many experiences into one representation against which deviations from the nom may be measured and remembered. In this way memory function is a metaphor for the reading process which a text patterned on repetitions demands of its audience." Proust's use of repetition in A la recherche chi temps perdu is analogous to the aesthetics of repetition in the clzonsons de geste. In boih the Proustian work and the chansom a repeated incident may be marked by verbal repetition, the recurrence may be amplificd by additional detail inserted into the repeating pattern, and the collation of the repetitions produces a new Le Temps retrouvé: III, p. 873. " Ulric Neisscr, 'Nestcd Structure in Autobiographical Memory': 'The occurrence of two similar or relatcd cvents creates an cxtendçd event that exists in its own right [....] Eaçh of the separate events lcaves its own trace in memory, but thcrc is also the trace of the pair itself. [....] Any sequence that includes many repctitions - many trips, many days of work on a manuscript - has its own invariant properties. As a rule, thosc propcrtics are more easily availablc in memory than the individual çpisodes themselves. This produces what Linton (1982) has called the transition from episodic to semantic memory. The more airplane trips we takc, the more we know about flying in general and the less we rernember about any particular journey. Sometimes we actually forgct al1 the separate occasions and retain only the invariant properties.' pp. 78-9. " In a short essay on reading, Proust seems to be using medieval metaphors of memory to talk about reading: 'Tant quc la lecture est pour nous l'initiatrice dont les clefs magiques nous ouvrent au fond de nous-mêmes la portc des demcures où nous n'aurions pas su pénétrer, son rôle dans notre vie est salutaire. II devient dangereux au contraire quand, au lieu de nous dveilfer à la vie personnelle de l'esprit, la lecture tend à se substituer à elle, quand la véritS ne nous apparaît plus comme un idéal que nous ne pouvons rdaliser que par te progrès intime de notre pensée el par l'effort de notre coeur, mais comme une chose matérielle, déposée entre les feuillets des livres comme un miel tout préparé par les autres et que nous n'avons qu'à prendre ta peine d'atteindre sur les rayons des bibliothèques et de déguster ensuite passivement dans un parfait repos de corps et d'esprit.' Les Hautes etfines enclaves du passé: Slrr ln lecriire: Préface à S6same et les Lys de Ruskin (Nantes: Le Temps Singulier, 1979) pp. 53-4. dimension of resonance. It is tempting to see a relationship of influence between the medieval epic poets and Proust, particularly since Proust was fond of medieval culture in general, and medieval architecture in particular.3gA tantalising reference to a very artfully repetitio~is chansons de geste, Renaut de Montauban, also known as Les quatre fils Aymon, occurs within the first thirty pages of A la recherche.'1° The Proustian oeuvre, contemporary Hollywood films and the Old French epics deploy an aesthetic strategy which operates through the CO-operationof the audience in collating scattered repetitions. While the series of repetitions in the chansons de geste are clearly flagged by means of verbal identity, correspondence of position, and context, Proust's sophistication of the art lies in skilfully concealing from the reader the first in the series of repetitions. He manipulates audience memory for üesthetic cffect, but also its forgetfulness. The presence of repetitions in Hollywood films which are marketed for popular consumption provides an interesting parallel to the chnnsoris de geste, which similarly are considered to be entertainment for the masses.'" This parallel counters any concem which may be raised that the repetition effects in the cl~ririsonsde geste are visible, or audible. only to textual critics who read the poems assiduously, and also demonstrates that an audience will recognise, and is expected to recognise, repetitions which occur at a considerable distance from '' Proust compared his magnus opus to a Gothic cathedral. In a lettcr to Jean de Gaigncron he wrote: 'Et quand vous me parlez des cathédrales, je ne peux pas ne pas être ému d'une intuition qui vous permet de deviner ce que jc n'ai jamais dit à personne et que j'écris ici pour la première fois: c'est que j'avaiq voulu donner à chaque partie de mon livre le titre: Porche, Vitraux de l'abside, etc., pour répondre d'avance ii la critique stupide qu'on mc fait de manquer de construction dans des livrcs où jc vous montrerai que le seul mérite est dans la soliditd dcs moindres parties.' Cited by Luc Fraisse, L'Oeuvre catitédrule: Proust et l'architecture niédiivale (Paris: José Corti, 1990), p. Il. JO '...il y avait en elle un passé français tris ancien, noble et mal compris, comme dans ces cités manufacturières oh de vieux hôtels témoignent qu'il y eut jadis une vie de cour, et où les ouvriers d'une usine de produits chimiques travaillent au milieu de délicates sculptures qui représentent le miracle de saint Théophile ou les quatre fils Aymon.' Du côté de chez Swann: 1, p. 29. '' Another point of cornparison between Le chansons de geste and Hollywood films (which it is not appropriate to develop here) is the fact that both have a tendency to multiply their number through recycling previous examples of their genre. Of the films discussed here, each is a remake of a previous film: A Perfect Murder recycles 148 the original occurrence. Finally, the parallel technique of Hollywood films which clearly use repetition to achieve effects, illustrates the aesthetic function of repetition in a context in which it cannot be subjugated to oral composition. Hitchcock's Dia1 M for Murder, The Titanic recycles A Night to Renteniber, and Great Erpectntions (in addition CO re-presenting Dickens' novel), is a remake of an older film of the same name. Conclusion Division and particularly repetition are stylistic characteristics of the chansons de geste which in the past have been associated with the jongleur's mernory. However, to explain division and repetition as memory props for the jongleur is to ignore the rich complexity of effects which derive from the collation and cornparison of textual units. By approaching the chansons de geste from the perspective of the audience's memory, this thesis offers a new way of looking at the relationship between memory and the style of the poems which respects and explains the latter's aesthetic implications. In addition to the generic division into laisses, the chansons de geste are divided into rnacro-units and micro-units w hose boundaries are distinguished by repeti tions (addresses to the audience, formulae of transition, etc.). Another kind of unit, also defined by repetition, is the repeated segment of the disjunctive echo. The role of repetition in the division of the poems into units means that recognition of the units is dependent on audience memory, since the repetition defining the unit's boundaries, or the unit itself, will only be evident with the memory of its original occurrence. The involvement of audience memory in recognising the units is the key to understanding the effects of the division and repetition. The process of recognising the repetition involves collating the various parts of a repetition, which will result in a gathering in the audience's rnind of either unit boundaries or units of disjunctive echo. At this point of the audience's awareness of repetition, and thus of division, emerge effects of the collation ranging in complexity from the simple association of units of an interlaced narrative establishing a sequence for the various narrative threads, to the complex effects of disjunctive echo which are discussed in Chapter 2. The collation of the units of disjunctive echo in Ami et Aniile, Renaut de Montauban and Raoul de Cambmi reveals subtle psychological portraya1 of character, emphasises themes (eg. the lineage of the quatrefils Aymon) or introduces notes of irony, drarna and comedy. It would appear that the larger the units, the less complex the effects of the collation. However, this impression is fallacious, since to develop fully the implications of the collation of, for exarnple, the s&anccs would involve book length studies of individual poems. Likewise, if the poems themselves are units within a cycle, then the effects of their collation would entai1 a study of the cycle. Catherine Jones' comments on associative interlace in thirteenth-century epic which combines interlaced episodes associated by similar narrat ive configurations suggest that the collation of macro-units, for example units defined by formu lae of transition, would reveal cornplexity of effect similar to that of disjunctive echo.' My third chapter places the division and collation of the poems in the context of ancient and medieval mnemonic theory. The analogy between the chcirisons de geste, structured through division and collation, and the mnemonic theories which advise structuring one's memory through division and collation, suggests the further analogy that the poems are memories. This analogy is expressed in the some of the poems' prologues which represent the poern in a rnetüphor drawn from the mnemonic tradition, where it signifies rnemory. Thus in addition to exercising its memory in the recognition of repetitions, the audience is the remembering subject of a memory which is the poem. This is demonstrated by the analysis in Chapter 4 of the prologue of Renaifr de Montauban which implicates the audience in the story, diminishing the distance between them as the poem's memory unfolds, until the audience is the remembering subject 'living' the memory as narrative experience. ' 'La Tresse: Interlace in the chanson de geste' 15 1 The second part of Chapter 4 returns to the question of the relationship between the unitary and repetitive style of the poems and memory by asking how the remembering subject remembers. Using theories of memory from modem cognitive science, we have seen that the models which support audience perception and recognition of repetition also facilitate and encourage cornparison. Focusing on the audience's memory, instead of the jongleur's memory, not only respects the stylistic characteristics of the chansons de geste by refusing io view repetitions as forrnulae, but it provides a way of thinking about repetition which also explüins its effects. Division and repetition, and their corollary, collation, are fundamental to processes of human cognition, such as perception and mernory, which opente through categorisation. and structural alignment. This fundamentality is reflected in the fact that di vision and collation are essential to both the chansons de geste and ancient and medieval rnnemonic theories, and that disjunctive echo appears as an aesthetic device in the twentieth century in works as diverse as Hollywood films and Proust's A la Reclierche du ret~tpsperclir. 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