Durham E-Theses Translation and Réécriture in the Middle Ages: Rewriting Merlin in the French and Italian Vernacular Traditions CAMPBELL, LAURA,JANE How to cite: CAMPBELL, LAURA,JANE (2011) Translation and Réécriture in the Middle Ages: Rewriting Merlin in the French and Italian Vernacular Traditions, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/705/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Translation and Réécriture in the Middle Ages: Rewriting Merlin in the French and Italian Vernacular Traditions PhD Laura Jane Campbell Durham University, Department of French Submission Date: October 2010 i Translation and Réécriture in the Middle Ages: Rewriting Merlin in the French and Italian Vernacular Traditions Laura Jane Campbell, Durham University Abstract: This thesis will investigate the processes of translation and rewriting (réécriture) in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, through a study of the French and Italian Merlin corpus. In particular, it will focus upon the products of translation between vernacular languages, which, as a practice, displays a greater degree of heterogeneity than translations into the vernacular from Latin. Medieval translation will be studied through a comparative analysis of the story of Merlin’s conception in Robert de Boron’s Merlin and Paulino Pieri’s La Storia di Merlino, in addition to an examination of the translation of Merlin’s prophecies as recounted in the Prophecies de Merlin, the Storia and the Vita di Merlino. These instances of translation will be compared to and studied alongside the processes of intralingual réécriture. Rewriting within the French tradition will be investigated through an analysis of the interpretative transition from the Vulgate Estoire de Merlin to the Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin; in particular, the reinterpretations of Merlin’s prophetic discourse and the character of Merlin’s lover, Viviane, will be examined. The study will take as its methodological basis the semiotic theory of Charles Sanders Peirce, particularly the concept of semiosis; this defines interpretation as an exchange of signs, through which meaning is transmitted and developed. In this way, the Merlin corpus will be regarded as a continuum of interpretation, through which the meaning of narratives is interpreted by other signs, thought patterns and extra-textual cultural discourses; more broadly, the whole medieval tradition of translation and réécriture will also be regarded as a part of this same continuum, displaying the same interpretative patterns. ii Acknowledgements This thesis has been made possible due to a grant from the Durham Doctoral Fellowship scheme, which has not only supported me financially during its composition, but has also allowed me to undertake research trips abroad and to further my research by attending international conferences. My greatest thanks must go to my supervisor, Professor Jane Taylor. Her experienced and supportive approach—and not to mention, her vast expertise—have been enormously beneficial, and I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to work under her direction. I am also very grateful to my second supervisor, Dr Stefano Cracolici, whose guidance was invaluable to my work on the Italian Merlin tradition. Thanks are also due to Dr Kathryn Banks, Dr Manolo Hijano and Professor Jan Clarke, for their roles in monitoring this thesis, and their useful comments; in particular, I would also like to thank Dr Dario Tessicini for his additional feedback, which was very gratefully received. Some of the material which went into this thesis was first aired in the form of conference papers, and I would like to thank the members of the International Arthurian Society (British Branch) and the International Medieval Society of Paris, whose comments and advice were incredibly helpful. I am also grateful to the staff at the various sites of the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris for their assistance with the codicological aspects of this research. On a personal level, I would like to thank my friends among the MLAC postgraduate community— past and present—, mum, dad and our Anthony for their unfailing solidarity, encouragement and support. And finally, I am enormously grateful to Sean, who has kept me fed, sane and smiling throughout. iii Illustrations 1. Peirce’s sign model 49 2. BNF fr 24394, f. 214R 227 3. BNF fr 24394, f. 218R 230 iv Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Illustrations iii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Approaches to Studying Medieval Translation and Réécriture 16 Chapter 2: The Translation of Merlin's Conception from The Prose Version of Robert de Boron's Merlin to Paulino Pieri's Storia di Merlino 70 Chapter 3: The Figure of Viviane in the Estoire de Merlin and the Suite du Merlin 105 Chapter 4: Rewriting Prophetic Discourse in the Estoire de Merlin and the Suite 144 du Merlin Chapter 5: The Translation of Italian Political Prophecies from the Prophecies de Merlin 180 to the Storia di Merlino and the Vita di Merlino Conclusion: Merlin and the Semiotic Continuum 216 Appendix 225 Works Cited 236 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 1 Introduction The birth of Merlin, as described in the prose version of Robert de Boron’s Merlin (ca 1200), calls attention to the protagonist’s supernatural origins. He is born entirely covered with hair, much to the horror of his mother and her nurses: Et quant les femes le *l’enfant+ rechurent se n'i ot cele qui n'i eüst molt grant paour pour ce qu'il le virent plus pelu et plus grant poil avoir qu'eles n'avoient onques veü a nul enfant avoir. Si le moustrerent a la mere, et quant ele le vit si se seigna et dist : «Cis enfés me fait grant paour», et les autres femes dient : «Et nous meïsmes en avons nous tele paour que a grant painne le poons nous tenir. »1 Merlin, as the reader already knows, has been fathered by a devil with the intention of sending a demonic prophet to earth. The reader is also aware, however, that Merlin is not evil; knowing in advance of the devil’s plans, God redeems Merlin and gives him a new, Christian purpose. Nevertheless, the child’s strange hirsute appearance frightens even his mother, who subverts all expectations of motherly affection by making the sign of the cross in reaction to the first sight of her baby. The unnaturalness of the child thus produces an unnatural relationship between the child, his mother and his nurses, who are too afraid to offer the usual attentions accorded to a new-born. The strangeness of Merlin’s appearance at birth is also emphasised by Paulino Pieri, the author of a fourteenth-century Italian vernacular translation of Robert’s text. Pieri’s version offers a fuller description of Merlin at birth: [Merlino] fu molto brutto e laido, però ch'e' fu piloso a modo d'un bertuccione per lo volto e per le mani e per tutto. Fu la sua carne bruna e smorta, grosso nelle reni ch'e' parea zembuto alquanto; avea grossa la bocca e grandi e grossi gli occhi, e ' denti lunghi e radi e brutti.2 1 Le Livre du Graal, tome I: Josephe d’Arimathie-Merlin-Les premiers faits du roi Artus, ed. by Philippe Walter et al. (Paris: Gallimard, 2001), pp. 594-595. 2 Paulino Pieri, La Storia di Merlino. Edizione Critica a cura di Mauro Cursietti, ed. by Mauro Cursietti (Rome: Zauli, 1997), p. 8; ‘Merlin was very ugly and unpleasant, because he had hair on his face and hands and all over, just like a big ape. His skin was brown and dull; his lower back was so swollen that he looked like a hunchback. He had a large mouth, bulging eyes, and his teeth were long and sparse and ugly’. (All translations from the Storia and the Vita my own). 2 The translation provides a more immediate, more visual image; Merlin is not just hairy, but ugly (‘brutto e laido’), with a large mouth, bulging eyes, and long, gaping teeth. The child’s appearance is concretised through physical comparisons; he is said to resemble an ape-like creature (a ‘bertuccione’),3 and a hunchback (‘zembuto’). Whereas the original French text concentrated upon the reactions caused by the peculiar child, the translation focuses entirely upon the details of his physical peculiarity. This example of medieval translation has here been subjected only to the briefest analysis. Nevertheless, such an analysis raises a fundamental question as to the ontological status of Pieri’s text: is this a translation? If translation involves semantic transfer between two languages, then this can be observed in our example; Pieri, like Robert, describes Merlin’s appearance at birth, highlighting his unnatural and animal-like hairiness. This semantic content, however, undergoes substantial changes when transferred from source to target text. The translation fails to convey the perspective of Merlin’s mother and his nurses, their fear and confusion at the child’s appearance.