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 O Copyright by Paula Elizabeth Leverage 1999 National Library Bibliothèque nationale u*m of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Ottawa ON K 1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in rnicrofonn, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/filrn, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts &om it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. For Ona and George Acknowledgements 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-Uni t - 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. 196 1 ); 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.