Vol 16 (2) 1991 BOOK REVIEWS

93 Genette Ashby-Beach. The "Song of Roland": A Generative Study of the Formulaic Language in the Single Combat. JEAN-PAUL CARTON

99 Andreas Bomba. Chansons de geste und Französisches Nationalbewusstsein im Mittelalter: Sprachliche Analysen der Epen des Wilhelmszyklus. PATRICIA BLACK

105 Denis J. Conlon, ed. Simon de Puille: Chanson de geste. JAN A. NELSON 111 Jean Dufournet, ed. Ami et Amile: Une chanson de geste de l'amitié. DONALD MADDOX

115 Continuations. Essays on Medieval French Literature and Language in Honor of John L. Grigsby. Ed. Noms J. Lacy and Gloria Torrini-Roblin. JOAN B. WILLIAMSON

124 David P. Schenck. The Myth of Guillaume. Poetic Consciousness in the Guillaume d'Orange Cycle. JOAN B. WILLIAMSON

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS

129 "Problems in the Medieval Romance Epic": Sessions of the Société Rencesvals at the Twenty-sixth International Con- gress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, May 9-12, 1991.

Book Reviews

Jean-Paul Carton Genette Ashby-Beach. The "Song of Roland" : A Generative Study of the Formulaic Language in the Single Combat. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1985, Pp. 190. This book, which includes materials published by the same author in an Olifant article in 1979,1 is the result of research undertaken for a PhD. dissertation which was completed in the mid- seventies.2 It examines the formulaic language of the Song of Roland from the standpoint of a generative model of competence which emphasizes (1) the role of context in formula production and (2) formulaic variation. It focuses on two levels of formulaic language, the "formula" and the "formulaic complex." Unlike Milman Parry and Albert B. Lord, Ashby-Beach sees the formula not as a repetition of words and syntactic patterns but as a paraphrastic system based on an underlying semantic string that is "actualized" in a variety of ways depending on the context of its occurence. She dismisses the Parry-Lord definition of the formula as being too restrictive. Instead, she prefers to view the formula in Edward A. Heinemann's terms as "l'unité minimum de l'expression stylisée, longue d'un ou deux hémistiches selon la syntaxe, et résultat de la rencontre du mètre et de la syntaxe" (19). This definition, with its focus on the "essential idea" of the formula rather than on its surface structure, appears to account better for the dynamics of formulaic language in the Roland. At the deep- structure level, Ashby-Beach sees a "semantic string composed of sememes" (16), which is triggered by preceding contextual

1 Genette Ashby, "A Generative Model of the Formula in the Chanson de Roland," Olifant 7 (1979): 39-65. The bulk of this article is included in the book as a pan of Chapter 2 (pp. 19-32). 2 Genette Ashby, "A Generative Grammar of the Formulaic Language in the Single Combat of the Chanson de Roland" diss., Columbia U, 1976; see "Recent Dissertations," Olifant 4 (1977): 300-01 for a summary. 94 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 elements. Lexical choice is based on semantic content and structural considerations. Thus, numerous surface structures or actualized formulaic variants may correspond to a given invariant deep- structure preformula, defined as a non-actualized or virtual formula. The final form of each of these variants depends upon the context of its occurrence. Although she acknowledges her debt to the theory of Chomsky, the author is careful to specify that her model is not Chomskian in the sense that Chomsky's model provides only structural descriptions but does not generate sentences, whereas hers "'generates' or produces epic formulas in a context." In addition, Chomsky's model deals at the level of the deep structure with a syntactic description, whereas Ashby-Beach's is sememic (16). A "formulaic complex" consists of a cluster of formulas that are united by a common idea (linked semantically) so as to form a "descriptive system," such as the description of the battle steed, the lance attack, or the equestrian complex. Ashby-Beach distinguishes between the simple formulaic complex, in which two formulas fill one hemistich each in the same verse, and the extended formulaic complex, which involves more than one verse line. A formulaic complex is composed of cardinal (obligatory) and secondary formulas and may be combined with other complexes in such a way that one of the complexes forms the "nuclear complex" and the others the "satellite complexes." The kernel of an extended complex is formed by its cardinal formulas (20-21,37-40). Ashby-Beach illustrates the functioning of her generative model in her second chapter, where she demonstrates how six formulaic variants of the preformula "(Horse X) is swifter than bird(s) Y," which occur in similar formulaic complexes in three versions of the Roland, correspond to the same deep-structure sememic string and differ at the surface level because of semantic and structural constraints (including assonance and meter) imposed by context. Thus, a verse line such as "Le destrier vait plus tost que nul ostour" is a formula based upon the same deep structure as "Plus est isnels que nen est uns falcuns," in spite of structural and lexical differences. According to her model, the generation of formulas occurs on three successive levels, "deep structure," "shallow structure," and "surface structure." She identifies the deep-structure sememic strings by listing all of the related formulas in the corpus under scrutiny and finds that basic sememes may be divided into two categories, according to whether or not they are kernel Carton / Ashby-Beach's A Generative Study 95

(obligatory) sememes or secondary (optional) sememes. Obligatory sememes always correspond to kernel lexemes in surface structure, thus "Le destrier" in the formula "Le destrier vait plus tost que nul ostour" is a secondary lexeme because it is actualized in only one of six variants under consideration (25-26). At the level of the shallow structure, which involves the transformational component, the sememes are arranged into a sememic string and lexical insertion takes place in the invariant string according to proper structural rules of rhythm and assonance (26-31). Finally, at the level of surface structure, the B-verse is collocated to the A-verse and evaluation of the degree of paraphrase takes place (31-32). The author gives a detailed description of the various transformations undergone by the basic sememic structure as it becomes surface structure in the six instances cited, explaining how context affects the final form of the formula; she analyses in the same way a related set of four formulaic variants based upon the preformula "There is no beast which can outrun (horse) X" (32-37). In the following chapters, the author turns to the Oxford Roland and applies her generative model to the analysis of formula generation in the equestrian complex which precedes the lance attack (chapter 3) and in the lance attack itself (chapter 4). She finds that the equestrian complex is composed of three parts: (1) the cardinal preformula "(X) is mounted on a/the horse + identification;" (2) the secondary (optional) preformula "(Horse X) is faster than bird(s)/beast;" and (3) the cardinal preformula "(X) spurs his horse." The lance attack complex consists of five preformulas: (1) the cardinal preformula "(X) strikes Y;" (2) three cardinal preformulas, "(X) breaks the shield of Y," "(X) breaks the hauberk of Y," and "(X) pierces/does not pierce the body of Y with his lance"; and (3) the closing cardinal preformula "(X) kills/does not kill Y." Again, for each preformula, the author presents a description of the transformations that occur in the generation of its surface structure in context, analysing the structural constraints imposed by meter and assonance, the degree of synonymy, and the extent of the variations. In chapter 5, where she presents a descriptive model of the combat code in the Roland, Ashby-Beach shows how formulaic complexes are also variants of an invariant deep structure or "base kernel." She identifies the base kernel of the combat motif as follows: (1) Assault; (2) Defensive Arms; (3) Offensive 96 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991

Arms/Wounds; (4) Result. Only categories (1) and (4) are obligatory to the actualization of the combat theme, although in some instances only category (4) is actualized, category (1) being implied. The author examines the lance attack, the sword attack, the single combat deciding the outcome of the war, and the battle in general and hero(es) in the mêlée, and finds distinct degrees of variation. The complex of the battle in general and hero(es) in the mêlée has the less rigid structure of these complexes, whereas the single combat with lance displays the highest degree of fixity. Although this book brings a new perspective to chanson de geste studies and does provide valuable insights about stylized discourse in the Roland, it has generally received mixed reviews from a number of scholars in the field. It has been criticized for a certain lack of rigor and consistency,3 a cumbersome and somewhat unnecessary analytical apparatus,4 a possible disregard for the semantic complexity of formulaic language in the Roland, and an overstatement of its achievements.5 In addition, and principally if it is the author's intention to discuss the difference between formulaic language and other types of poetic language, as she does in her conclusion, one might regret some of her implicit and apparently wavering assumptions concerning the formula and the nature of the texts she analyses. On the one hand, she recognizes that quantitative oral-formulaic studies which have tried to test the orality of texts such as the Roland have reached an "impasse" (15), suggesting that they have not produced convincing evidence showing that these texts are direct products of oral tradition, a view that would certainly be shared by many scholars in the field.6 She also seems to distance

3 W. G. van Emden, review in French Studies 40 (1986): 189. 4 Paul Zumthor, review in Vox Romanica 46 (1987): 347. 5 Roger Pensom, review in Medium Aevum 56 (1987): 329-30. 6 See John S. Miletich, rev. of The Song of Roland: Formulaic Style and Poetic Craft, by Joseph J. Duggan, Modern Philology 73 (1975-76): 178- 82; see also John S. Miletich, "The Quest for the 'Formula': A Comparative Reappraisal," Modern Philology 74 (1976-77): 111-23. My own analysis of "elaborate style" in the Oxford Roland indicates that the Old French poem differs significantly in style from authentic oral epic poems and is most likely a learned text composed in writing: see Jean-Paul Carton, "Oral-Traditional Style and the Song of Roland: 'Elaborate Style' and 'Essential Style'," diss., U of Utah, 1982; Jean-Paul Carton, "Oral-Traditional Style in the Chanson de Roland: 'Elaborate Style' and Mode of Composition," Olifant 9 (1981 [published in 1985]): 3-19. Carton / Ashby-Beach's A Generative Study 97 herself from questions dealing with oral and written composition when, for example, she states that the function of formulaic language was to help the Old French epic poet meet metrical and assonance constraints in given contexts "whether or not composing orally" (163), thus implying that the Roland could be a written text. On the other hand, however, and perhaps in part because she defines formulaic language according to its function (its necessity) in oral composition, she appears to treat the versions of the Roland she analyses as faithful transcriptions of oral poems composed in the manner of the Yugoslav poems described by Parry and Lord. For example, if her statement on the usefulness of formulaic language for the Old French epic poet implies that the Roland could be a written text, it certainly does not explain why a poet composing in writing would need to use formulaic language to meet rhyme and assonance constraints in the same way as a singer who composes in performance. She generally does not distinguish between "formulaic" and "oral" and her acceptance of Heinemann's view that the entire poem is formulaic (8,13,14) seems to lead her to assume that the entire poem is also oral and may thus be used alone in an investigation of oral-formulaic poetic discourse. This stance is evident in her reference to memorization and the singer in the formulation of the first basic assumption which underlies her model: "The first [assumption] is that instead of memorizing a list of stock phrases in which he delved at will to compose his poem, the singer mastered a poetic language or set of rules which govern formula production" (19). It reappears in her conclusion, when she argues that her study of the formulaic language of the Roland contradicts a remark made by Robert Scholes about the "oral-formulaic poet, who composes as he recites" (162). Regardless of the context and validity of Scholes's observation, such a statement implies that the Oxford version of the poem and compositions by such oral- formulaic poets are of the same nature and that what is true about the formulaic language of the former is also true of the latter. On the same page she uses the term "oral chanson de geste" in reference to Old French epic poetry and because she does not elaborate on the meaning of "oral" the reader has to assume she is referring to the Parry-Lord notion of oral composition at the time of performance, and not to the other possible oral modes such as, for example, chanting from a manuscript or even from memory a text in which writing may have played a significant part 98 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991

One of the problems concerning the définition of the formula in Ashby-Beach's book is that she never addresses directly the question of the mode of composition of the Roland as it relates to her understanding of formulaic language. She does not examine the validity of applying to medieval texts, the orality of which is still problematic, a definition of the formula that is intrinsically linked to its usefulness in oral composition. Nor does she consider the implications of modifying the definition of the formula in an analysis of such problematic texts rather than of authentic oral texts. A clear treatment of these points might have shown to what extent, if at all, her generative analysis of the formulaic language in selected passages of the Roland may serve as the basis for a discussion of the difference between formulaic discourse (defined as oral discourse) and other types of poetic discourse, a task that is perhaps not related to her main purpose but which, as I have already mentioned, she undertakes in her conclusion. Although Ashby-Beach's apparent hesitations concerning the formula and nature of the Roland do not affect her generative model and the paraphrastic systems she describes, it does affect her perception of what she has achieved as well as the reader's perception of the significance of her work. It should perhaps be noted here that unlike Ashby-Beach, Heinemann, from whom she borrows the definition of the formula on which she later elaborates, and who is concerned with the aesthetic use of "stylized composition," distances himself clearly from questions dealing with modes of composition and specifies in the article cited by Ashby- Beach that in fact he prefers the word "stylisée" to "formulaire,"7 although he uses both terms. By focusing more on "stylized" language than on a partly new definition of the formula which is still related to the Parry-Lord theory of oral composition, Ashby-Beach might have spared the reader a number of unanswered questions and gone a long way towards emphasizing her real contribution to the field, namely her attempt to capture the dynamics of stylized language in the single combat in the Roland through a generative

7 Edward A. Heinemann, "Composition stylisée et technique littéraire dans la Chanson de Roland," Romania 94 (1973): 8. Black / Bomba's Chansons de geste 99

model. Indeed, it seems to me that it is this aspect of Ashby- Beach's book that makes it significant and interesting, in spite of the questions raised here and by other reviewers. Jean-Paul Carton Georgia Southern College

Patricia Black Andreas Bomba. Chansons de geste und Französisches Nationalbewusstsein im Mittelalter: Sprachliche Analysen der Epen des Wilhelmszyklus. Text und Kontext: Romanische Literaturen und Allgemeine Literaturwissenschaft 5. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1987. Pp. 330. Coincidentally, Andréas Bomba's study takes up a question that was recently broached by Eugene Vance in Olifant.1 One of the raisons d'être of Bomba's study is to analyze the assumption on the part of early Romance scholars that the chansons de geste inherently conveyed ideas related to a consciousness of national character; strangely enough, Gaston Paris and Léon Gautier, to give two salient examples, found noteworthy historical precedents in the chansons de geste for viewpoints and institutions of the late nineteenth century (5-6, 8). Later, Joseph Bédier and Philippe- Auguste Becker still saw the chansons de geste through the lens which colored them as expressions of national character, though they used a different approach from Gautier and Paris (7). The coincidence to which I alluded in opening arises from the fact that in his review of Cook's study of the Song of Roland, Vance notes a similar phenomenon as he reminds us again that the Roland was used as a tool of military indoctrination before World War I.2 Why must we be reminded? As Bomba points out in his introduction, World War II scholars have avoided dealing with the question of

1 Eugene Vance, rev. of The Sense of the "Song of Roland," by Robert Francis Cook, Olifant 14 (1989): 227-30. 2 Vance, 228. 100 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 nationalism in the chanson de geste (1). Bomba's study thus returns to a central, if sometimes only implicit, preoccupation of romance epic scholarship in order to clarify at least two points: 1) what concepts of national sentiment the epic may have conveyed; 2) how the contemporary audience of the chanson de geste reacted to its historicity, an essential element of the genre for scholars who affirmed that Old French epic is national poetry (36). As Bomba begins the project, he also promises to define the group whose consciousness of a special identity is in question as well as how this group affected the creation of the chanson de geste (10). However, Bomba does not limit himself to exploring only the theme of how the chanson de geste presents national feeling. A technical consideration of method accompanies his thematic exploration. He first takes issue with those who have criticized Old French epic for its logical discontinuities, traditionally ascribed to oral transmission, scribal error, or even a mentality that accepted incoherence (37). He claims that what seem to us to be exaggeration, irreality, and inconsistency in many chansons de geste are trademarks of the genre, expressions of the demands of the public, and points on which the jongleur in fact relied to promote his product. Within their medieval social and artistic milieu, these aspects of the chanson de geste enhanced it aesthetically. Bomba does well to point out that modern aesthetic judgments about the chanson de geste have often gone to one of two extremes: either scholars have applied antique or classical standards of composition and have found Old French epic not to conform and therefore deficient, or they have exaggerated the genre's oral origins and therefore denied that it can be considered a literary art form (36). Bomba answers these criticisms by citing a medieval evaluation of the chanson de geste, that of Jehan Bodel. Instead of emphasizing Bodel's tripartite division itself, Bomba focuses on the primacy of the matere de France for Bodel. Surely if the epic were first on one medieval French writer's list, a writer whose standards and judgment were formed by the Zeitgeist of the time, it was because the chanson de geste reflected best some of that culture's most highly valued aspirations and images of itself. The reason for scholars generally not having come to these kinds of conclusions certainly is to be found in another set of largely unexamined attitudes: modem ambivalence toward the content of the genre and toward the original audience's reception of that content (37). Black / Bomba's Chansons de geste 101

Scholars also criticize chansons de geste for being inconsistent from one version to the other (37). Bomba responds to this criticism in at least two contexts before treating the question of variants integrally in a section entitled "Quellenkritik." First, in the process of defining a jongleur's activity in medieval society, i.e. how that profession diverged from that of poet, especially for medieval contemporaries, and how that activity may have influenced the shape of the chansons de geste which we have today, Bomba asks why there should be such strongly diverging versions of these works (27). In this first instance, Bomba has recourse to statements in various chansons de geste in which the jongleur refers to others having sung and forgotten essential parts of the stories; obviously the more enlightened jongleur rectifies such oversights. The competition between jongleurs suggested by such passages surely also must imply the variations in material which we witness today in manuscript form (28-29, 50). Second, in a section devoted to preliminary reflections on the historical basis of the chansons de geste, Bomba underlines the importance of the relation of jongleur to public and, thus, the importance of corresponding changes in the elaboration of the historical content of a text That is, for one public the jongleur may choose to use realistic-historical material to convey only that public's ideal vision of that empirically realistic content. On the other hand, for another audience the jongleur might well use that same content and sharpen and articulate it until it takes on a propagandistic character. Therefore, every individual text, including every version of a given chanson de geste, must be scrutinized to understand fully the use it makes of historic material; in other words, semantic variations from text to text may betray different types of "accomodation" (Anpassung) to a public (56-57). In the section "Quellenkritik," when Bomba arrives at the question of the transmission of the William cycle itself, he again raises the issue of variants since the William poems are found in fourteen different manuscripts. In modern editions one manuscript is selected as offering the best reading with all the variants in notes, a situation that excludes the possibility of doing what Bomba recommends, that is, reading singly and in their entirety all the versions of a given chanson de geste. I conclude that the former editing practice seems to embody for Bomba a misguided view of what he sees as the real issues in the chanson de geste. Though such editing indicates a careful study of linguistic details, it rarely explains what relation they have to the content of a text. Instead, 102 Olifant /Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 variants are judged as proofs of a jongleur's incompetence or as superficial retouchings driven by the desire to create order in the cycles. Bomba especially takes issue with scholarly analyses devoted to the morphologic-phonetic structure of the chanson de geste because they seem to him to miss the point. The chanson de geste's elaboration over a long period of time obviously would have left traces in changing language use. However, Bomba's examination of passages where there are grammatical variants, for instance, leads him to state formally that these varied structural details generally do not affect the semantic content of given verses. In other words, in the case of the chanson de geste, the evolution of the spoken or even written language did not necessarily lead to a change in semantic structures and, therefore, a changed content. Rather, where linguistic change required a new type of literary expression, there arose the courtly romance, one of the genres which competed with the Old French epic. According to Bomba the chanson de geste, because of its close links to its public through performances by a jongleur, developed a conservative and common type of linguistic expression, outward changes in which did not affect its conveying of its public's values and ideals. Thus, Bomba makes his case for the need to examine chanson de geste manuscripts synchronically, not diachronically, and to weigh their variants according to their formai, semantic or "reception-oriented" (rezeptionsorientiert) functionality, not all of which would affect the understanding of a given poem equally (60-63). Having first carved out for himself a multi-faceted and formidable task whose most significant aspects I have just outlined, Bomba proceeds, through examination of the William cycle, to probe for aspects of the texts that led early Romance scholars to assume that the chanson de geste transmitted a vision of a national culture similar to their own. In so doing, of course, Bomba arrives at conclusions which reach beyond the William cycle to illuminate our understanding of the chanson de geste as a genre. Two major sections, one entitled "Inhaltliche Strukturen" and the other "Sprachlicher Ausdruck und Sonderbewusstsein," compose this part of the study. In "Inhaltliche Strukturen" Bomba returns again to the question of history in the chanson de geste and then goes on to deal with levels of literary and extraliterary reality, or how the historical elements of the chanson de geste are to be interpreted in view of incongruities such as giving three different locations for the king's court in the same text even when it is obvious that the king has done Black / Bomba's Chansons de geste 103 no traveling. In "Sprachlicher Ausdruck" Bomba chooses to examine terms and names: the use of kingdom, King Louis, Monjoie, François and France. In both chapters he employs variants and the notion of the primacy of the public in structuring the chansons de geste's themes and language in order to perform close readings of many of the "incoherent" passages of poems in the William cycle which prove not to be illogical at all. The examples are so varied and numerous that they are usually very convincing. The examples and interpretations in these chapters are also such fascinating reading that the general conclusion to the study, in which Bomba returns to the question of whether a national sentiment may be properly discerned in the chanson de geste, cornes as somewhat of an anti-climax. He concludes that indeed such an attitude is evident and that audience consciousness of and response to the national sentiment conveyed by the chanson de geste explain its extraordinarily constant elaboration over time of the same themes: Christianity, knighthood, the king, France. Why choose the William cycle for a study that deals with the genre as a whole? Basing his method on detailed close reading of text, Bomba preferred a choice of texts out of all possible chansons de geste that would possess great coherence in their content, as do the William cycle poems, which refer again and again to the same characters and events, and thus allow generalization (4). Indeed, the cross-text comparisons he makes within the William cycle help him form a convincing argument that other chansons de geste are likely to be similarly configured. Thus, aspects of the William cycle can contribute to understanding how, in general, the vision of Old French epic as national poetry should have become such a commonplace of Romance scholarship. Bomba relies principally on the Siège de Barbastre, Chanson de Guillaume, Couronnement de Louis, Montage Guillaume (II), Aliscans and Foucon de Candie as key to developing the idea that a national group consciousness existed in the chanson de geste. However, he never argues theoretically why, out of all the William cycle poems, these in particular are most appropriate for his uses. We must discern the reasons ourselves and, thus, we could rightly challenge some of the evidence for the thesis. On the other hand, overall there are briefer examples from at least twenty other chansons de geste; in that way Bomba has tried to enlarge the scope 104 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 of his inquiry and implicitly answer criticisms such as the one I have just made. Some may object that the study has thus been defined to give a foregone conclusion, a notion that the last paragraph of the study, in which Bomba quotes from his mentor Joachim Ehlers, who holds essentially the same opinion, does little to dispel. One could wonder what there was to say on the subject if others have already said it. However, Bomba subjects the William cycle poems to a vigorous and original reading. Thus, when he finds himself in agreement with others at the end it is because a rigorous scientific inquiry has led him to that opinion. Therein lies part of his contribution. As I returned again to Bomba's study to write this review, I was confronted by two technical problems. One, often he gave the citation for the poems in his own text, ahead of the quotation; this procedure worked well for a continuous reading, but was problematic when I wanted to check the example and had to search for whence it came. Two, though Bomba insists throughout his work on how essential it is to read a single version of a chanson de geste, sometimes he does not indicate the manuscript source or even verse numbers for his quotations from the poems. Again, this information may be given in his own text just before he cites these passages in Old French, but even my diligent checking in the material surrounding some examples did not always yield their source. These reservations should not obscure the exciting and even provocative contribution Bomba makes in presenting this book. However, what this study says about the development of national sentiment out of the chansons de geste seems to me less significant per se than the way in which the analysis further defines the genre by establishing that a certain constellation of factors supported group identity and were therefore expected from these works. Its importance also lies in its proposing a method to define the chanson de geste's audience, performers, and their common preoccupations. Chansons de geste und französisches Nationalbewusstsein im Mittelalter should serve to advance the debate over the genre and how it was perceived by the society for which it was destined. It should also have potential to serve as an example of methodical inquiry into the question of variants in other fields. Here I partial- Nelson / Conlon's Simon de Puille 105

larly think of lyric poetry, whose manuscripts give different arrangements of the stanzas of the poems; on the basis of Bomba's work one could hypothesize that changes in stanza orders may correspond to varying performer response to audience. In short, Bomba's study should serve anyone deliberating on the style of oral literature in general as well that of the chanson de geste in particular. Patricia E. Black California State University at Chico

Jan A. Nelson Denis J. Conlon, ed. Simon de Puille: Chanson de geste. Studien und Documente zur Geschichte der Romanischen Literaturen 17. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Peter Lang, 1987. Pp. 317. Simon de Puille is set in the time of Charlemagne. Jonas, the Emir of Babylon, has demanded tribute from the Franks. The great emperor, however, is unintimidated and threatens to invade Persia. When Jonas learns of Charlemagne's response, he assembles his armies to strike at Europe. The Christian King of Jerusalem, hearing of the emir's plan, sends a warning to Charlemagne and himself prepares a counterthrust. As it happens, the twelve peers are ready to depart as pilgrims to Jerusalem and offer to carry a message to Jonas. Charlemagne assigns the mission to one of them, Simon de Puille. After visiting the Holy City, the peers make their way farther east where they find the king of Jerusalem preparing to engage the emir's armies; nevertheless, they enter the enemy camps where they are taken prisoner. Unimpressed by Jonas' might, Simon de Puille is the only one of the peers who consistently comports himself well in Babylon. The group does, however, manage to escape and then to defeat Sinados, the lord of Abilant, who subsequently converts and offers his former enemies refuge in his tower. Jonas then lays siege to Abilant until he is defeated by the combined forces of the king of Jerusalem and Charlemagne. Simon de Puille has been preserved in three manuscripts: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, n.a.f. 4780 [A], Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 368 [B], and London, British Museum (now British 106 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991

Library), Old Royal 15.E.vi [C]. The text of A is shorter than the version present in the texts of B and C. Critical editions of both versions have been available for some time. Jeanne Baroin, ed., Simon de Pouille (Geneva: Droz, 1968) provides the shorter version (MS A). Jeanne Baroin, ed., Simon de Puille, Atelier de reproduction des thèses, Université de Lille III (Paris: Champion, 1978) furnishes the longer one (MSS B and C), as well as a study of all three manuscripts. There exists, in addition, an unpublished edition, which takes into account all three manuscript texts: Paul A. Duet, ed., "Simon de Pouille," diss., Tulane University, 1955. Conlon states that the purpose of his new edition is to provide the full narrative of Simon de Pouille in an easily accessible form (p. 7). However, he does not explain what is meant by full narrative. In the statement of editorial policy (p. 56), he identifies B.N. 368 [B] as the base manuscript, but there is no explanation for this. A rejection of B.N. 4780 [A], the shorter version, would presumably be in keeping with his intention to publish the full narrative and would also avoid duplicating Baroin's 1968 edition. As for B.M. 15.E.vi [C], it dates from the fifteenth century. Is it unsuitable as a base for that reason? We might assume that the editor's purpose in preparing this new edition of Simon de Puille and his choice of base manuscript would be related matters, but that is not the case. Conlon states on page 56: "The only modifications which we have made to the text are rectifications of obvious errors; in such cases we have indicated the addition or alteration by the use of brackets. We have, however, allowed ourselves the liberty of borrowing readings from B.M., Old Royal, 15 E.vi. [sic] and B.N. n.a.f. 4780 in order to bridge lacunae or to give a satisfactory reading. We have allowed ourselves the greatest possible leeway in admitting readings from the other manuscripts to bridge possible lacunae of one line or of a few lines on the grounds that a personal value judgement concerning the literary value of an individual line could also be used to exclude many lines which are already in B.N., f.fr. 368. We have also included the Unaut [sic] episode from B.N., n.a.f. 4780 to bridge an obvious lacuna, although we consider that it may not be the original version of this particular episode." It follows, therefore, that the full narrative of Simon de Puille published in this edition is an invention of the editor and that it does not represent an extant medieval text at all. Nelson / Conlon's Simon de Puille 107

The passage cited from the statement of editorial policy exemplifies the lack of attention to detail and the lack of organization that characterize this edition. Old Royal, 15 E.vi should read Old Royal, 15.E.vi in order to be consistent with the editor's own style. Unaut is spelled Hunaut elsewhere in the introduction; both spellings occur in the text, as does Huimaut. While brackets are used to indicated additions to the text, the source of the added text is not always provided as, for instance, in verse 250. And not all alterations are in fact indicated by brackets; in verse 429, for example, a presumably erroneous unaccented final e is enclosed in parentheses. Indeed, errors abound throughout the introduction. The following examples are only a representative sampling: "a prove version," i.e. prose version (p. 18); "seems to a catalogue," i.e. to be a catalogue (p. 20); "oist," a citation from the text that reads oïst (p. 20); "au jor de Vendredi" (p. 21), although no statement concerning the principles of punctuation and capitalization is offered; unidentified text cited (p. 25); the .XII. compaignons have found a "harp" (p. 27), in fact they found a harper; "the narrative of damaged leaves" [!] (p. 39); "Within the exception of some 1128 lines," i.e. With the exception (p. 40); "all three versions," there are three manuscripts, one of which contains a short version and two of which contain a long version (p. 51); Mme. [sic] Barion [sic]; (p. 51); Simon de Puille (ed. Jeanne Baroin), op. cit., pp. 46-48 (p. 51); and finally, despite a number of specific references by page to Fierabras, the edition is identified neither among the notes nor in the bibliography. A major section of the introduction is devoted to a discussion of the geographical background of Simon de Puille. The editor notes at the outset that the text contains a number of particular references to places that, upon examination, appear to be quite exact and so may indicate a knowledge of the East. The discussion that follows, however, is devoted exclusively to only one place, the Tor d'Abilant, which is identified with either Antioch, or Aleppo, or Harenc, or Babel, or Damietta. It is difficult to accept such an identification as quite exact and even more difficult to accept it as evidence of the author's personal experience. The discussion of the Tor d'Abilant also provides an example of the problematic manner in which textual references are given in this edition. The lines of the edited text are numbered 108 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 consecutively by fives in the left-hand margin. As noted, however, the edited text consists of individual verses or groups of verses taken from all three manuscripts. The lines of the text as they occur in the base manuscript [B] are numbered by fives in the right-hand margin, their consecutive order being interrupted by lines taken from the two variant manuscripts [A] and [C], lines likewise numbered by reference to the manuscript from which they have been taken. The foliation of B is given in the left-hand margin, but foliation is not given for the variant manuscripts. A reader who wishes to verify the reading of a variant manuscript has no recourse but to start counting from verse one or, of course, to make a rough calculation based on the number of lines per page and then to search. In other words, all of this numbering of lines with reference to the manuscripts themselves is useless. It is also rather confusing. It would have been better to provide a simple guide to the foliation of the variant manuscripts. The following, now, is an example of the kind of frustration that all of this means for the reader. While discussing the Tor d'Albilant, the editor refers to its close access to the sea and cites line 2153 of C. But C2153 corresponds to no clearly identified line or passage in the edited text. The reader must scan the right-hand margins for references to material taken from the manuscripts in question. Verse C2155 does in fact appear on page 143, but C2155 is not C2153. Counting back does not help, because C2155 has been inserted in a series of seven lines taken from MS A. However, counting back does lead to line 3058 of the edited text and among the variants to that line the reader finally locates the missing citation. I should note further that the reader is left to penetrate this complex system for himself. An interested reader, after having noted the disconcerting number of errors and inconsistencies in the introduction, will approach the text itself with some trepidation. This is all the more so inasmuch as the edited text is a mélange of three different manuscript texts, each of which can be expected to demonstrate linguistic peculiarities unmentioned in the introduction. In the statement of editorial policy, Conlon states that he will rectify only "obvious errors" (p. 56). Does this apply to obvious errors in grammar? Apparently not; for instance: (v. 4/C4) "[Jugleürs [ne] la chantent et ne la sçevent mie"]; (v. 13) "Et dou fier amirax dou regne de Persie"; (v. 15) "Tant par est fiers et fors et plain de felonie"; (v. 18) "Com il antra an France ou la grant oz banie"; (v. 77) "A icete parole sont li rois desevré"; or (v. 91) "Dont .VIIM. chevalier Nelson / Cordon's Simon de Puille 109 gerrent mort et pamé." If these errors can be attributed to medieval scribes, others such as this example probably cannot: (v. 20) "Quant il ert arivé es seis de sa galie," which makes sense when construed as esseis [p.p. of eissir] de sa galie. Still other problems are even more disconcerting. The following examples will suffice: line 134 reads: "Si s'afiche es escierge qui la se est croissie." A curious and diligent reader may discover that there is a note to this line. He may discover the note or he may not, because the notes are printed at the end of the text and no indication whatsoever is provided in the text to alert the reader to their existence. In this case the note reads, " It would seem that Charlemagne grips a candle-stick which is beside him." On the other hand, the glossary lists "escierg [sic], n.f., 134 - position." Verse 264 reads: "La poissez vëoir esters et hemeris." The second hemistich is problematical inasmuch as the broader context offers a description of the splendor of Charlemagne's court. The glossary only adds to the confusion. There is an entry that reads, "estor, n.m., 3121 - fight, combat" But the problem is with verse 264. What then of hemeris? The entry reads: "hemeris, n.m., 264 - hawk; small falcon." Are we to believe then that estors refers to some type of hawk? On the other hand, what is the evidence for hemeris meaning hawk? Neither Godefroy nor Körting nor Meyer- Lübke nor Tobler-Lommatzsch list the word. Godefroy, however, does list hemee (no etymon) meaning attaque, bataille, mêlée. Tobler-Lommatzsch gives hamee (no etymon) glossed as ein Gesellschaftsspiel. And Meyer-Lübke 4007 gives Modern French hamee meaning 'Sichelstiel' Barbier as derived from Germanic halm meaning Griff. Is it not more reasonable, then, to assume that hemeris is a modification of hamée, a modification of the type so common in epic diction at the rhyme, and that the tautology refers to mock combat or to practice combat? After all, Charlemagne's purpose here is to impress the Muslim emissaries. Verse 459 reads: "Gauter de Termes ment desor Matequenel." The next two verses continue and read: "Sanglés en un bliaut, ni n'ot portez mantel;/Il n'ot en tote France un cheval plus isnel." The problem here, of course, is ment. In the glossary it is listed as the present indicative of monter. But if that were true, the expected form would be monte and the text would require emendation. Now, the reading ment is from the base manuscript [B], thirteenth-century text in the typical manuscript hand of the period. Three minims may well represent the letter m, but they may just as well represent the letters vi, in which case neither emendation nor a bizarre verb form are required. Gauter de Termes is coming and not mounting on his horse just as 110 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 all of the other notable figures at court are; the next laisse begins: "Apres cestui i vint Girart de Viennois," etc. A similar apparent misreading of the manuscript hand occurs in this same description of Gauter de Termes; verse 482 of the edition reads: "La lance sus le fiantre, l'escu tint en chantel." The glossary lists "fiantre, n.m., 482 - lance rest on a saddle." Conlon appears to be unaware of the long debate concerning the precise meaning of lance sur fautre. Finally, verse 495 reads: "Por ce vindrent ansanble si firent que coetois." The glossary lists coetois as an adjective meaning 'bold.' I have been unable to locate any other evidence for the existence of this adjective; if it existed, it would surely mean cowardly! In fact, however, coetois looks very much like an error for cortois, which makes perfect sense in context The Table of Proper Names and Place Names [sic] is also unreliable. For example: "[Amorain, 6318]. A Saracen nation." The line number is incorrect. It should read 6813 where the proper noun in question is printed "Amorain[iz]," which makes it the same as the next proper noun listed It would be pointless to continue. There is, however, a telling addendum on page 317 at the end of the edition: "After correction of the final proofs and as we go to print, it has come to our attention that an edition of Simon de Puille was being prepared prior to 1955 by Professor Harry F. Williams of Florida State University. Professor Williams appears to have discontinued his work and given up the idea of publication upon learning that an edition by Paul A [sic] Duet had been presented as a thesis for the degree of Ph.D. of [sic] Tulane University in 1955. In its turn Dr. Duet's edition has never been published. We have not had sight of Professor William's [sic] edition, Dr. Duet's dissertation, nor any of Mme. [sic] Baroin's studies other than her published edition of the A version. Our knowledge of Dr. Duet's and Professor William's [sic] work comes from the latter's review of Mme. [sic] Baroin's edition in Olifant, Vol. 2, No. 4, April 1975, pp. 270-9 [sic], which first came to our notice in November 1986." It is clear that Conlon made no real effort to familiarize himself with previous research on Simon de Puille. In fact, he seems genuinely proud of his ignorance! So much could have been gained from Jeanne Baroin's 1143 page, three-volume study of 1978. Maddox / Dufournet' s Ami et Amile 111

Conlon's edition of Simon de Puille has been established on the basis of undefined critical principles and carried out with astonishing disregard for precision. "Die Reihe der STUDIEN UND DOKUMENTE ZUR GESCHICHTE DER ROMANISCHEN LITERATUREN ist als Forum fur den Austausch romanistischer Informationen und Meinungen gedacht (p. 139)." Unfortunately neither reliable information nor useful opinion is to be had in this case. Jan A. Nelson The University of Alabama

Donald Maddox Jean Dufournet, ed. Ami et Amile: Une chanson de geste de l'amitié. Collection Unichamp 16. Paris: Champion, 1987. Pp. 127. The medieval textual component of the Agrégation, the highest competitive examination for teachers in France, invariably elicits one or more collective volumes of studies addressing one of the works selected for a given year. The collection of eight essays at issue here is one of two devoted to the Old French epic version of Ami et Amile, a text on the list of readings for academic year 1987- 1 1988. The first essay, entitled simply "Ami et Amile: Une chanson de geste" (pp. 7-14) is, appropriately, by Peter F. Dembowski, whose edition of the epic version of the poem was on the list.2 This initial orientation provides basic information on the legendary background, versions, the plot of the epic version, motifs, epic

1 See also Bien dire el bien aprandre: Revue de médiévistique, special issue "Sur Ami et Amile" (1988), containing the acts of a colloquium held at the Centre d'Études Médiévales et Dialectales de Lille III on November 14,1987: Philippe Ménard, "La légende d'Ami et Amile au XIIe siècle: la chanson de geste et les traditions antérieures," pp. 7-13; Bernard Guidot, "La structure d'Ami et Amile," pp. 15-39; Jean Subrenat, "Les tenants et aboutissements du duel judiciaire dans Ami et Amile," pp. 11-60. 2 Peter F. Dembowski, ed. Ami et Amile, chanson de geste. Classiques français du moyen âge 97. Paris: Champion, 1969. 112 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 properties, theme ideology, and so on, while also anticipating issues taken up by the other contributors. Dembowski qualifies this epic version as a "chef d'oeuvre" and pays tribute to the anonymous poet's capacity to "ré-écrire" an especially powerful and moving reincarnation of the legend. Though informative, this rather brief survey will require supplementation by the more thorough introduction in his edition. The three essays that ensue deal respectively with the more specific thematic registers of friendship, religion, and leprosy. In "Une extrême amitié" (pp. 15-38), Micheline de Combarieu du Grès compares our decasyllabic Francien Ami et Amile with its Anglo- Norman octosyllabic counterpart of perhaps somewhat earlier vintage, Amis e Amilun. Three times longer, the decasyllabic version deals in greater detail with essentially the same "schéma événementiel" as the octosyllabic version, of which it is nonetheless not an amplification; both poems have been identified as indépendant reworkings of an unknown antecedent. In both versions friendship is crucial to the determination of an absolutely selfless reciprocity which constitutes the legend's uniqueness. In the longer, more incidentally detailed Ami et Amile, however, characteristics of epic, romance, and hagiography are interrelated by the theme of friendship, which informs the protagonists' heroic, psychological, and saintly qualities. In contrast, the much more austere Amis e Amilun treats friendship as subject by avoiding matters that do not pertain directly to it. While the author eschews attribution of superiority to either version, she might well have provided a more spécifie synthesis concerning the coherent world view each implies. If Ami et Amile is indeed an "hymne à l'amitié," as Geneviève Madika asserts in "La religion dans Ami et Amile" (pp. 39-50), this according to her would be attributable to the thematization of religious elements. In her opinion, they determine the poem's "sens profond," which she characterizes in terms of the heroes' sainthood. The latter stems not from the model of ascetic retreat from the world but rather from a double "purification" achieved through sacrifice and pilgrimage, while the extraordinary bond of human friendship becomes an expression of the love of God. Religious properties enumerated include: the unusually preponderant role of hagiography in an epic frame; the thematic prominence of pilgrimage; the operation of Providence, effected by miracles and by agents of the divine; prayers; and the judicium dei. Maddox / Dufournet' s Ami et Amile 113

Certain of these topics require fuller discussion than they receive, in particular the poem's treatment of hagiographlic elements; the use of pilgrimage as a device for the organization of narrative; the structural significance of the prière de plus grand péril; and the irony occasioned through recourse to judicial duel. In "La lèpre dans Ami et Amile" (pp 51-66), Geneviève Pichon, perceiving the depiction of Ami's leprosy as "l'élément essentiel de la légende" (p. 52), examines three aspects of the question within a much broader context including biblical, theological, and historical elements. Thus she situates Ami's affliction as a specific punishment for his perjury with regard to early patristic and later exegetical views of leprosy, while also hypothesizing that Ami's legendary "deliverance" of his friend was modeled on the medieval tradition of Christ as "quasi leprosum" We also see how numerous ecclesiastic and domestic details of Ami's illness replicate documented features of the diagnosis, handling, daily life, and comportment of medieval lepers. In the domestic sphere, if Lubias is the antithesis of an ideal leper's spouse according to contemporaneous literary and popular lore, the filial devotion of Girart, who bestows "le baiser au lépreux," is exemplary. Finally, Pichon relates Ami's miraculous healing in the blood of Amile's children to remote analogues in Pliny, Hebraic tradition, and the legend of the healing of a leprous Constantine; she also recalls the sacrifice of Abraham and the legendary thaumaturgical properties of Christ's blood. While this article is rich in medieval cultural details resonant with key features of the poem, the author's fascination with possible sources and analogues dominates at the expense of determining leprosy's role in the structure of Ami et Amile, a matter that remains to be examined more fully. Analysis of characters in Ami et Amile is limited to the distaff. This is not suprising, in that the relatively stable spiritual axiology represented throughout by the two heroes contrasts markedly with a broad range of negatively-marked values exemplified by the spouses Belissant and, especially, Lubias. Along with Charlemagne's queen, they receive detailed analysis of their considerable roles in the unfolding of the intrigue, in "Lire Ami et Amile, le regard sur les personnages féminins" by Samuel N. Rosenberg (pp. 67-78). As opposed to the largely reactive behavior of Ami and Amile, Lubias and Belissant are shown to be dynamic 114 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 throughout. While both serve to underline the inviolable friendship of the spouses, the unredeemed malice of Lubias will in time contrast with Belissant's progressively positive development, as Rosenberg demonstrates.3 Three studies of narrative technique and components round out the collection. In "Ami et Amile et le renouvellement de l'écriture épique vers 1200" (pp. 79-92), Dominique Boutet emphasizes the poem's "ambiguous" status with regard to new tendencies in the composition of epic around 1200. Linkage of this work with the Carolingian Cycle, magnification of the importance of traitors, the infusion of isolated lyric and courtly themes, and frequent authorial interventions, are all suggestive of new tendencies. On the other hand, the poem displays formal features— such as moderate length, a paucity of minor anecdotes, and brevity of laisses—typical of earlier works. A lengthy discussion of strophic organization reveals the work of an expert remanieur who, while remaining within the epic genre, embarks on a "recherche lucide d'un compromis" with traditional techniques (p. 92), thus achieving a cultivated ambiguity of style. Certain of Boutet's comments on strophic organization are borne out in greater detail by Claude Lachet in "Les vers d'intonation dans la chanson de geste d'Ami et Amile" (pp. 93-105), an article that describes six basic types of vers d'intonation and shows how they serve to unify dis- parate as well as contiguous laisses and to heighten thematic and character development Finally, in "Les motifs épiques dans Ami et Amile" (pp. 107-20), Jean-Pierre Martin reopens the question of remote precursors of this chanson de geste, suggesting how two analogues in folklore—Two Brothers and the Faithful Servant— might have been fused, rationalized, and christianized through successive investments with hagiographie elements and epic motifs.

3 Others have quite recently addressed this issue: Sarah Kay, "Seduction and Suppression in Ami et Amile" French Studies 44 (1990): 129- 42; and William C. Calin, "Women and Their Sexuality in Ami et Amile: An Occasion to Deconstruct?", published in this issue of Olifant. Williamson / Lacy's Continuations 115

Finally, a bibliography of editions, translations, and studies, compiled by Jean Dufournet, covers earlier work on Ami et Amile and the legend's tradition and makes up, if only in part, for the rather sparse bibliographical component in some of the articles. This is by no means an exciting or controversial collection, and some of the essays are more successful than others. As one might expect from a collective study designed to serve the needs of advanced students who may have little or no specialized training in medieval studies, the articles occasionally include the kind of fundamental information one would not expect to find in work destined primarily for the attention of specialists. On the other hand, some of the essays go well beyond the relatively modest needs of students preparing the Agrégation. For this reason, those involved in specialized research on French epic will find some useful and stimulating discussions scattered throughout the collection. Donald Maddox University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Joan B. Williamson Continuations. Essays on Medieval French Literature and Language in Honor of John L. Grigsby. Ed. Norris J. Lacy and Gloria Torrini-Roblin. Birmingham, Alabama: Summa Publications Inc., 1989. Pp. xviii + 328. This collection of essays honoring the memory of a respected and loved colleague and friend contains four essays on the Old French epic: "The Religious Content of the Chansons de Geste: Some Recent Studies," by Gerard J. Brault; "Funerary Rituals in the Chanson de Roland," by Peter Haidu; "Garin de Monglane and La Chanson de la croisade albigeoise : A Comparative Old French- Occitan Study," by William L. Hendrickson; and "The Prologue to the Lyon Manuscript of the Chanson de Roland" by William W. Kibler.

Gerard Brault's article presents an over-view of recent criticism on the epic that deals with their religious aspects; and we offer here a summary of his useful presentation. Brault recalls that, while scholars at the end of the nineteenth century extolled the 116 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991

Christian content of the chanson de geste, some more recent critics have not seen this religious element, citing as proof of this argument George F. Jones, for whom the Song of Roland reflected a pagan ethos, with merely a superficial Christian content; Jean-Charles Payen, who saw the epic as encouraging a religious racism; and Jean Frappier, who saw the feudal concerns as paramount. This noted, Brault proceeds to remind us of new findings of religious content in the chansons de geste, with a view to providing a true perspective on the important place of religious matter in the epic. As a prelude Brault points out that, on the one hand, the presentation of this matter is not always positive: Christian characters do not always behave in Christ-like ways, prejudice is behind the distorted image of Islam, and the triumph of the erst- while knight over the clerk in the montages has its roots in anticlericalism. On the other hand, the Church rejected only the jongleur's life-style, not the songs he sang, as the existence of the Latin Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle and the Rolandslied attest Religious feeling evolved in the chansons de geste and Brault records changes that scholars have chronicled. In his study of the fifteenth-century prose Guillaume d'Orange, François Suard has noted that lip service to religion has replaced the earlier fervor. On the other hand, Bernard Guidot rejects the idea that "féerie" has taken over the realm of the supernatural in certain thirteenth-century poems of the William of Orange cycle, insisting instead that it is Christianity that has invaded "féerie," with fairies speaking like angels or churchmen. Bernard Deschaux has shown how the Chanson d'Antioche poet narrated historical events as Christian wonders, because people's Christian faith was mingled with pagan beliefs. Brault points here to a symbiosis between institutional and popular beliefs, recognized by anthropologists, that also explains such things as the unorthodox elements found in the epic "prière du plus grand péril." Jean Subrenat has noted a surprising unawareness of the pilgrimage to St. James at Compostela in most epics, the exception being Garin le Lorrain, where the saint is mentioned several times. Brault sees a pattern in these allusions, similar to the references to St Peter in the William cycle, indicating that each of these cycles had its own patron saint. Considering the Song of Roland, Brault recognizes that not all recent critics have accepted the religious significance of the poem Williamson / Lacy's Continuations 117 as a whole and of many of its apparently profane elements, but he explains that the subtlety of the poet's allusions sometimes veils their religious meaning. The Christian dimension in this poem is extensive and is seen in the themes of betrayal, conversion, victory, and of good versus bad, and in metaphors such as the road and the ascent, as many scholars have shown. Brault himself has analysed the Christian symbolism inherent in the landscape; Jacques Ribard has identified a vast number of Christian elements while emphasizing the theme of Salvation; Marianne Cramer Vos has examined several of the characters from the perspective of medieval typology; Larry S. Crist has presented the poem as a medieval allegory of Christian life, using allegory in the medieval sense of representing one thing by another, while Stephen G. Nichols has shown how Romanesque iconographie formulas, which are practically all based on religious art, illuminate meaning in the poem. Roland's refusal to sound the horn, interpreted as the "Folly of the Cross or of Sapientia," is one fruit of investigation into the religious sentiment of the chansons de geste. While these poems are by no means uni-dimensional, Brault closes by suggesting that religious symbolism in the Old French epic is a rich area of research.

-o-oOo-o- "The Baligant episode in the Chanson de Roland interrupts narrative development whose coherence is defined by a common theme." Thus does Peter Haidu begin his remarkable study of the funerary rituals in the poem, pointing to this episode as a later addition to an earlier poem. Funerary rituals, in this poem and generally speaking, have two functions: to bury the dead and re- present the living. After the defeat at Roncevaux, the narrative focuses on Charlemagne who, as survivor, embodies the consciousness of loss. This section produces change, a transformation of its narrative materials that has three moments: the lament for the dead; the revenge upon the Saracens; and the laying to rest of the heroes' bodies at Roncevaux, the river Iber, and Roncevaux again. The lament is a verbal textualization, the revenge is mainly narrative, while the triple burial moment is a combination of both verbal and narrative. Thus the three moments of this section may be seen as having an a/b/a structure. 118 Olifant /Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991

The lament provides the first instance in an "oral" text of the classical ubi sunt topos, evidence of the mixed character of the Chanson de Roland. This lament performs an essential narrative structural role: it is the expression of emotions, a textualization necessary for the following narrative program. The emotions of grief expressed justify the revenge against the Saracens that will follow. Revenge is presented as a legal reparation for an injury done the survivor; and here Haidu points out that vengeance seen as a legal mode of compensation is the basic narrative stuff of the chansons de geste as a whole and in particular of the "rebellious baron" cycle. In the Chanson de Roland the expression of grief transforms what we today would consider interiority into a social and semiotic fact that is the basis for narrative action. The narrative action is collective and it also involves God, who intervenes here by interfering with the workings of Nature: He stops time so that the Franks can catch up with the Saracens, and He sends Charles proleptic dreams (already seen in the Roland section). The suspension of the flow of time changes fundamental assumptions about narrative as well as about human life: what would be impossible for any normal human in real life, or actor in a narrative, becomes possible for Charles. Religion here constitutes a direct grant of power to Charles as King and Emperor, and this concentration of power enables him to perform certain narrative acts that would ordinarily be beyond him. The positioning of the revenge, the second moment, between the lament and burial, the "b" element in the a/b/a structure mentioned above, marks the necessity for it and also the fact that it is a necessary interruption in the enactment of the funerary rituals. But, Haidu points out, before their performance the Franks sleep and Charles again has proleptic dreams. While these dreams make sense to the modern reader only if the events of the end of the poem are known, the medieval audience basically already knew the text (because it was a part of their culture) before they heard it. Therefore, what is important about these dreams is not their interpretation, but their function within the narrative structure. They demonstrate the connection of the present narrative moment with a later one by telling a later event ahead of its time. Significantly they occur at the hinge-point between two larger syntagms: the narrative of the funeral rituals and the Baligant episode, which lead to the ultimate narrative sequence of Ganelon's trial. Williamson / Lacy ' s Continuations 119

After the Baligant episode, the text shifts back to Charles at Roncevaux. The third and essential moment of the funeral syntagm is a compound of verbal and narrative subsections. Charles finds Roland's body by recalling his nephew's earlier boast about where he would be found if he were to die. The recall of the dead hero's words and where he had said them stresses the family bond between him and Charles. When Charles finds his nephew's body he faints, and on recovering he laments him in a verbal syntagm offset by that of the earlier ubi sunt. But while the earlier lament looks backward, the present one looks forward to the effect Roland's absence will have on Charles and the Franks. Charles's "honor" has declined, and here this means his reputation and his territory, which are both weakened by Roland's death. The simultaneous letting go of the dead and the reaffirmation of the unity of the social group inherent in the funerary rituals signify absence and presence. While this duality against the brutal fact of death is true for Charles on a personal level, it is lost on the political plane. Charles's political evaluation of the consequences of Roland's death points only to a loss that still must be redressed. The narrative function of the syntagm of funeral ritual is to state the personal and political valorization of the loss of the hero, which it does with an internal organization of closure. We have seen that the first Roncevaux syntagm is verbal, the Ebre syntagm is narrative, and the second Roncevaux syntagm is both verbal and narrative. Haidu now shows us that this second Roncevaux syntagm is internally organized with two verbal syntagms followed by a narrative one, repeating the pattern of the whole and thereby giving it closure. The text then offers a syntagm (Ganelon's trial) dealing with the issues of the culpability for Roland's death and the way to prevent another disaster. But before that a two-laisse passage constitutes both a return to the isotopy of the funeral ritual and an introduction of the isotopy of exchange, constituting a natural isotopic connector between the rituals and the trial. Charles offers his son Louis as a substitute for the dead Roland to Aude, but she refuses. Both before and after the Aude syntagm, mention is made of Ganelon's trial, indicating a connection between her death and Ganelon's trial. The narrative 120 Olifant /Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 syntagm here introduces the theme of death, Roland's death in particular, into the textual space of the action at Aix, the scene of the trial, thus connecting the themes of death and trial. However, the second effect of the funerary rituals, the re- integration of society as a whole and Charles in particular after a loss, has yet to be achieved. The idea of Charles's loss is mirrored in that of Aude's. Explaining the Emperor's offer of a substitute husband, Haidu reminds us that marriage in the Middle Ages, apart from considerations of affectivity, involved the idea of a spouse as a social value, for which, in the case of loss, compensation could and must be offered. It is this system that Aude rejects: no exchange is possible where Roland is concerned. Her position echoes Charles's earlier assertion: "Deus! se jol pert, ja n'en avrai escange" (v. 840). Roland is presented as unique, his uniqueness constituted by his qualities as knight. Hence the hero's death represents momentous military and political loss. However, Aude's refusal of a substitute goes further. Not only does it show that the re-integrative function of the funerary ritual has not yet taken place, it also reveals that the basic principle of social organization, that of exchange, is suspended. It is the values of the society, and hence the society itself, that are at issue.

-o-oOo-o- Common geographical boundaries of the Old French Garin de Monglane and the Old Occitan Chanson de la croisade albigeoise, a reference in the former to "Aubigois," and a common literary form, have led William L. Hendrickson to compare the two works. In the introduction we are reminded, in a slightly cryptic way, that the "matière de France" was divided into three by Bertrand de Bar- sur-Aube, author of Girart de Vienne and again in Doon de Mayence, and that Garin de Monglane is the second or third of the "gestes" depending on which enumeration is followed. Also somewhat disconcerting is the listing of suggested locations for Monglane, since none is chosen and since this negative finding is the only material provided at this point relating to common geographical boundaries. (It is only later that Hendrickson points out that, while the narrator of Garin de Monglane has consciously tied his poem to the Guillaume epics, the geographical area he presents is not that of Garin's great-grandson's exploits, but rather that of the Albigensian heresy.) The uninitiated might read no Williamson / Lacy ' s Continuations 121 further and so miss this interesting comparison of these two texts. Viewing the epic as both history and epic, Hendrickson compares the two poems from the point of view and role of the narrator as well as the "narrataires." The Provençal Chanson de la croisade albigeoise is by two authors who wrote from opposing points of view. Guillaume de Tudele, a cleric from Spain who left Montauban after eleven years and whose viewpoint was that of his "narrataires" who included his patrons Baudouin, brother of Raymond VI of Toulouse, and a collaborator of Simon de Montfort; Eleanor of Aragon, countess of Toulouse; the Abbot of Cîteaux, one of the leaders of the crusade; and Simon de Montfort himself. Guillaume favored the crusade, but rejected the indiscriminate massacres and excesses of zeal, condemning only the guilty few. (All this, however, Hendrickson's readers must infer from the italics he has inserted in the text to emphasize the revelatory passages.) While Guillaume strove to give an impartial account, his continuator, whose language shows him to be from Toulouse, shows the biased judgment of the insider. Hendrickson fares better here. We see clearly that the continuator's account lacks historical authenticity: there is, for example, a foretelling of Simon de Montfort's death followed by a celebration of it, and a bitter comment on Bishop Foulques as a traitor whom Guillaume had presented as a hero. Dialogue and allegory are used for rhetorical and didactic purposes. Heresy is barely mentioned and the battle is of good against evil, with the heroes, the followers of Raymond VI, rightfully defending their legitimate territorial rights against the vilains from the north. After this exposition Hendrickson succinctly narrates the end of the war that sees the exasperated Toulousains helping Raymond VII, Simon de Montfort's death, and succession by his son. The poem closes with Toulouse prepared to resist the French and a forecast of the extinction of the Cathars. Pointing to the similarity of verse form of the two epics, Hendrickson next describes Garin de Monglane. He draws a comparison between Toulouse and Monglane, and between Simon de Montfort and Garin. In the Provençal epic, Simon de Montfort, a northerner, was granted Béziers and Carcassonne by the Catholic Church while the legitimate but presumed heretical viscount was still alive, and even after the latter's death Simon had to fight for 122 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 acceptance. In Garin de Monglane a similar situation is presented: after an angel showed the hero Monglane in a dream, he requested of the Emperor the right to conquer it. Monglane is then described and this description is significant The inhabitants had been baptized as children, but there is neither crucifix nor altar in the castle; incest abounds (here Hendrickson recalls René Nelli's comment that since all carnal relations were evil in the eyes of the Cathars, incest was no worse than any other form); and a male relative of Gauffroi de Monglane expresses a sexual preference for boys (here Hendrickson points out the early association of the name "bougres" with pederasty). We learn that no Mass had been sung in the city for more than thirty years and that one Bernait de Valcomblé (who had baptized Garin) had been disinherited by Gauffroi because he, Bernard, believed in God. The style of Hendrickson's introduction, rather more allusive than expository, also clouds his conclusion for the person who has not read the text. However, he argues persuasively that Garin's battle cry of "Monglane le fort" is a distorted echo of "Montfort" used by Simon, and that the French epic is suggestive of northern French imperialistic expansion as supported and encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church. Hendrickson's analysis convinces us that the aspects of Garin de Monglane that he has presented in his study show that this poem reflects the Albigensian Crusade. This article has done much to suggest that the poem of the Chanson de la croisade albigeoise was a direct literary source for the reflection of the Albigensian crusade in the French poem. In all events Hendrickson has refuted Léon Gautier's insistence that Garin de Monglane is purely fictitious.

-o-oOo-o- William W. Kibler points out how John L. Grigsby's editions of the Liber Fortunae and Joufroi de Poitiers show the need, in treating late medieval French texts, to respect the changes in language and form occurring at that time and to make sense of the texts we have before correcting them. Kibler's Lyon manuscript of the Chanson de Roland (Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale 743), written in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, is a case in point. It abbreviates and expands the traditional text and offers a different beginning. Williamson / Lacy ' s Continuations 123

Kibler views both the abbreviations and expansions as positive elements. With remarkable clarity he shows how the systematic reductions all focus the text on the central character of Roland and his heroic achievements at Roncevaux. The expansions also coincide in nature. They insist on human qualities: Ganelon is avaricious; Roland suffers from thirst; the role of Aude is expanded; and Ganelon's punishment is preceded by escape and recapture, the combat of Thierri, and a prolonged debate on the choice of punishment. For Kibler the Lyon poem is intended to underscore the human drama of the hero (Roland) against the vilain (Ganelon), rather than the cosmic battle of Good (the Christians led by Charlemagne) against Evil (the Saracens led by Baligant). Examining the beginning of the poem in detail, Kibler explains the omission of the opening council scenes, Charles's dreams, the designation of Roland to the rear guard, the selection of the Christian and pagan forces, and the first horn scenes, as intended to focus attention on this human Roland. Kibler's examination of the manuscript from the codicological point of view indicates that the opening twelve lines in octosyllables and apparently treating the matière de Bretagne, are an integral part of the poem and were therefore intended as its prologue. From a study of their content Kibler reaches the same conclusion. In this he agrees with Horrent, but rejects this scholar's view that in associating both the courts of Arthur and Charlemagne with Pentecost, the prologue shows the tragedy of Charlemagne's court by contrast. For Kibler, the introduction of Arthur's court gives a thematic tone of the matière de Bretagne to the epic, reminding us that the interest of romance is primarily individualistic. Kibler argues that the prologue in the Lyon manuscript is a marker to the reader to change his or her generic expectations, and to adjust to a "romance" reading of this version of the poem, where the emphasis is on individual human struggle. In support of this view Kibler cites other unrelated beginnings used to show how they mark new readings from those the reader traditionally assigned the older text. Kibler recalls that the late chanson de geste is so different from the traditional epic that elsewhere he has named it chanson d'aventures. His convincing thesis here is that the redactor of the Lyon Roland, presenting his material from a changed viewpoint, inserted his prologue to propose a romance frame for an originally 124 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 epic narrative; and that the curious inclusion at the end of the poem of one Grifonel l'Enfant, possibly a romance vilain, may have had the same purpose. Joan B. Williamson Long Island University

Joan B. Williamson David P. Schenck. The Myth of Guillaume. Poetic Consciousness in the Guillaume d'Orange Cycle. Birmingham, Alabama: Summa Publications Inc., 1988. Pp. 144. David Schenck's informative introduction tells the reader what his book is about: the civilizing myth that gives unity to six poems in the Guillaume Cycle (La Chanson de Guillaume, Aliscans, Le Couronnement de Louis, Le Charroi de Nîmes, La Prise d'Orange and Le Moniage Guillaume). After a brief review of past scholarship focusing on the question of unity in the Guillaume Cycle, Schenck posits for the six poems a unity of conception and execution provided by the common civilizing element that their presentations of the myth of Guillaume emphasize. His point of departure is that of a shared "epic consciousness," drawn from Zumthor's work on intertextuality. It is now an accepted fact that several poets shared similar ideas, themes, concepts and values, and also, I would add, that these traits became attached to a particular myth in this shared consciousness so that the audience of an epic already essentially knew it before they heard it for the first time. Returning to the Guillaume Cycle, Schenck considers that intertextual borrowings may have introduced this civilizing element in the three Aymeri poems, but its absence in the later Enfances is an indication of their distance from the myth. Schenck proposes to analyse the literary design of the six poems to show their unity of conception and execution from the mythic point of view. His study shows the structure of the myth in each of these works, how it is generated textually, and its temporal and spatial aspects. Writing on myth in general, Schenck notes that its essential function is to allow the integration of a person into his or her world. The poem creates a textual space in which this process can take place and thus permits the sublimation of a person's integrative needs with Williamson / Schenck's The Myth of Guillaume 125 respect to the real world. The critic's task here is to determine how myth functions, how it communicates its message, and how it generates its particular form. Schenck posits three levels for the general structure of myth: narrative, syntagmatic/paradigmatic, and "emic," an expression that he defines in a note on the following page as "having to do with minimal, clearly distinct units of sound, form or meaning." The second level is pivotal in Schenck's view, for it is here that the narrative proper interacts with mytheme, archetypes and motifs, where the linear, having to do with the flow of the narrative, meets the circular, having to do with the ritual nature of myth. Semanticization at the emic level moves deeper into the structure of the text with mythemes, sememes, semes, lexemes, morphemes and phonemes, each of which acquires significance because of a binary relationship with another phenomenon. Symbol, image, motif, and theme enter at this point and Schenck usefully digresses to distinguish between these terms, troublesome because of their varying definitions. Schenck turns next to a most valuable (and, to my mind at least, the most successful) aspect of his work: the analysis of the mythic structure of the six Guillaume Cycle poems, with emphasis on the Couronnement de Louis. He identifies a structure of work (battle) interspersed by rest, within which are found images of nature, water, fire, food, and wasteland. These are at times apocalyptic (promoting good), and at others demonic (promoting destruction). Schenck convincingly analyzes each of the six poems in turn to show how these images operate in cycles of work/rest, with the demonic phases overcome by the apocalyptic. In his chapter on the semiosis of the myth, Schenck continues to show the binary structure of the Guillaume poems. He sees them as composed of both syntagmatic and paradigmatic elements: the syntagmatic providing the narrative flow and the paradigmatic interrupting this periodically with presentations of character, situation, symbols, and metaphors. In this interaction of the syntagmatic and paradigmatic aspects of the texts, Schenck considers the latter more prominent. Schenck makes use here of various models of analysis developed by semioticians like Julia Kristeva and Umberto Eco. For example, he analyzes the context, circumstance, connotation, and denotation of water according to Eco's approach. However, the reader must be familiar with the six poems under consideration, for in this section no references to, nor 126 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 citations of, specific texts are made. This compounds the difficulty of a section that can best be described as hermetic. The analysis here utilizes the methods and terminology of different theoreticians, not always clearly differentiated, and whose terminology is not sufficiently defined for the non-initiate to follow completely. In his third chapter, Schenck also discusses the issue of intertextuality, showing that an intertext of the Guillaume poems exists, residing in their mythic qualities. In chapter four, Schenck turns his attention to time. Here, restricting the number of technical terms and clearly defining these, his theoretical analytical processes are easier to follow. He begins with a highly successful presentation of linear and circular time, or, of spatial time as opposed to duration. Moving from the Greeks, who are credited with having first conceived of time as cyclical, through Augustine to Bergson, Schenck relates philosophical concepts to medieval attitudes. Predominant in epic poetry is time as duration, which creates an aura of timelessness, the very aura of myth. Time in the chronological sense is also present in the epics, and Schenck discusses the techniques used in its presentation. His statistical analysis of tense usage in these epics shows a sense of present time, even when tenses other than the present are used. He also makes clear, however, how manipulation of tenses, distortion of chronology, use of epic formulas, of isolated temporal expressions such as adverbs and conjunctions, and of appositional modes, introduce a sense of spatial time. Such expressions of time create atmosphere and express intensity of feeling. These interruptions of the epic present (where time is duration) are, moreover, deliberately introduced to break the listener's sense of unity with the text, and thereby turn the participant into an observer. The use of space in the epics is likewise complex. On the one hand the stage is often "barren" and characterized by a lack of realism, and geographical and topological inaccuracies abound. Yet Schenck sees space as the unifying factor for the total image of Guillaume, and, along with the use of time, as contributing to the mythic nature of the poetry. Recalling that space was not always thought of as a part of literary art by critics, Schenck shows that it is in fact an important facet of literary creation: in the epic the listener (or reader) uses mental space by creating an image in the mind, an image that is the anchoring factor for what is retained of the myth of Guillaume. Schenck divides his discussion of space into pictorial Williamson / Schenck's The Myth of Guillaume 127 imagery, created by verbal portraits and descriptions, and the narrative structure, created by repetition and analogy. The spatial framework created by the visual imagery hardly goes beyond the presentation of an archetypal image, with the spatial void thus created being filled in by the audience. Also, the use of physical space conveys, in addition to the setting of the action, emotional and metaphoric aspects that tend to emphasize the mythic content. Abstract epic spatiality, through use of flashback, foreshadowing, repetition, and analogy, achieves the same effect. By what Schenck calls "echoing," these procedures provide a sense of the whole of the text as well as of the image and myth of Guillaume. Schenck observes a concern with getting and holding land in the Guillaume Cycle, expressed in what he calls a "space modulation phenomenon," in which unlimited space is paired with reduced space. He notes (and counts the occurrences of) the recurring pattern in the epics of four sets of paired spaces. The first type of spatial expression concerns situations in which a character, in a small, defined space, views an expanse of undefined space, or vice-versa. Type two concerns situations in which a character, while traveling from a specific location to another, views a large undefined space. Type three concerns situations in which a person enters into or exits from a vast, undefined space from a small, defined one or vice- versa. Type four concerns situations in which a necessary person (or persons) is absent, in contrast to situations in which a critical character is integrated into society. An instance of this last kind of spatial expression, which Schenck calls "social space," is Guillaume's strongly marked absence in the first part of the Chanson de Guillaume, where his absence creates a social void. Schenck, drawing on concepts of intertextuality and genidentity (that is, the continuity of identity of concepts and individuals in a series of texts), shows that space is a part of the dynamic relationship that exists between texts, and between a text and both its poet and interpreter. The text of a Guillaume poem is a living construction, given life by language. Language is the common consciousness of the text and the genidentic space of the Guillaume Cycle poems is the space occupied by text, poet, and interpreter. The Guillaume Cycle "returns backwards" and thus turns time into space. While there is temporality in the progression of the 128 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 narrative, the Guillaume Cycle removes time by its tendency towards spatiality. The moments of duration, the "tableau" effect created by the poet and the play with form and spatial relationships, particularly the controlling factor of the myth, spatialize these poems in a state of timelessness. It is in such a timeless state, concludes Schenck, that we and Guillaume achieve a sense of wholeness and order out of polarity and chaos. The intertextual Guillaume looms over the collection of epics, coming to terms with his environment; and in so doing he becomes the symbol of the individual's struggle to define his space in the world against the void and chaos. Schenck turns brilliantly at the end of his book to the image of the whirlpool in the conclusion of the Montage Guillaume, an image that stands as the hypersign of the corpus of texts studied. This image represents the final transformation of chaos into form. It affirms the spatial and atemporal nature of the collection: by incorporating water, the major controlling archetypal image of the poems, turning endlessly upon itself, it replaces time by space. The significance of this image is best expressed in Schenck's closing words: "Truth, the metaphysical truth of the world as man perceives it and as he expresses it in poetic myth for all men, is most perfectly expressed in a spatial, perdurable instant of time. The myth of Guillaume is just such a truth." Joan B. Williamson Long Island University

Personalia We are pleased to announce that Jeanette Beer was made a Fellow of the Center of Humanistic Studies at Purdue University in the autumn of 1990. At the same time, she was appointed Chair of the Selection Committee for the Center. Currently she is in the process of co-editing (with Kenneth Lloyd-Jones) a volume on late medieval and Renaissance translation in France.

ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS

Problems in the Medieval Romance Epic: Sessions of the Société Rencesvals at the Twenty-sixth International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, May 9-12, 1991.

Danielle Buschinger

L'Adaptation allemande de Maugis d'Aigremont La chanson de geste Maugis d'Aigremont (première moitié du treizième siècle) a été traduit en néerlandais au début du quatorzième siècle: c'est le Madelgijs ou Malegijs; cette traduction néerlandaise a été à son tour traduite en moyen-haut-allemand (rhénan-franconnien) dans la deuxième moitié du quinzième siècle (1450-60) à Heidelberg, à la cour du prince palatin: c'est le Malagis. Il existe en outre une version longue en néerlandais qui a donné naissance à un "Volksbuch" qui a connu quinze éditions différentes du seizième au milieu du dix-neuvième siècle. Alors que la chanson française ne relate que les enfances du magicien et s'achève sur la réconciliation entre les deux frères Maugis et Vivien et la conversion de Vivien (elle compte 9,078 vers), la version brève néerlandaise, représentée par le Malagis moyen-haut-allemand compte plus de 23,000 vers: vers la fin du roman Vivien meurt mais il renaît dans son fils Aymijn, qui sera le père des frères Aymon. Le roman s'achève sur le mariage de Aymijn et de la sœur de Charles et la réconciliation entre Malegis et Charles. La relativement courte histoire des enfances de Maugis est devenue un immense roman au centre duquel se trouvent les combats contre les païens, les voyages en Orient et les différends entre le magicien et Charles, de même que l'histoire d'amour entre Malagis et la fée Oriande. Le roman est dominé par la cruauté, la soif de sang, l'ardeur belliqueuse, et l'aspiration à la vengeance; pourtant le ton est populaire, parfois burlesque. On assiste à la prédominance de l'intelligence sur la force physique: un nouveau type d'homme nous est présenté, une sorte d'intellectuel. Malagis 130 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 anticipe pour ainsi dire sur le personage d'Eulenspiegel, et, dans la mesure où il réussit à conjurer le diable, sur le personnage de Faust.

Danielle Buschinger Université de Picardie-Amiens

Kenneth Varty

The Comic and the Epic in Twelfth-Century France At the beginning of Le Rire et le sourire dans les romans courtois en France au Moyen Age (1969), Philippe Ménard presents as an hors d'œuvre a chapter on laughter in the twelfth-century French chansons de geste. Since then other stimulating contributions have been made to this particular topic in the chansons de geste, to other literary genres of the period (not least by Professor Ménard himself), and to the medieval sense of humor in general. In this paper I propose to review and attempt to update certain aspects of Professer Ménard's 1969 chapter, including both comic form and content, but to limit my examples to a few chansons de geste (chiefly to the Charroi de Nîmes) and to parodies of the chanson de geste (chiefly to the Chanson d'Audigier and some branches of the Roman de Renart). In short, I propose to talk about both present and latent humor in the twelfth-century epic. However, to be practical (in view of the limited time available), I shall confine my remarks chiefly to the depiction of violence as a source, or cause, of amusement. Kenneth Varty University of Glasgow

Edward A. Heinemann

Line-Opening Toolwords in the Charroi de Nîmes Enjambaient is almost competely absent from the chanson de geste, and parataxis is far more characteristic of the genre than hypotaxis, traits which often seem to contribute heavily to a Abstracts / 26th Congress at Kalamazoo 131 droningly monotonous versification but which may also be seen as the boundaries within which subtle variation attains remarkable effects. Following the leads of Zumthor and Rychner we can discern roughly a dozen grammatical relations which form the constraints of the semantic thrust from first to second hemistich; the thrust from verse to following verse, interestingly analogous, is the topic I should like to examine. One particular combination of position and semantic category stands out as the explicit expression of the semantic thrust from verse to verse. Limited in number and in the lexical values they express, the toolwords that occur in initial position of the verse represent a kind of microcosm of both the constraints and the rhythmic variety of the genre. Two reasons led me to examine line-opening toolwords in a chanson de geste, curiosity about the flow from verse to verse and curiosity about computer-aided literary analysis. Although a classification of the lexical relations between successive verses would require a disproportionate effort in comparison to the results to be attained, a collection of line-opening toolwords, particularly if obtained with a minimum of effort, could give an interesting insight into that set of relations. I already had the Charroi de Nîmes in machine-readable form; it required less than half an hour using a home-brew approach with WordPerfect to produce the material I needed for analysis. In the more general terms of software for textual analysis, this particular problem illustrates the desirability of indexing the position of a textual element like a word in relation to structural units like line, verse, chapter, or laisse. Details like the precise number of occurrences of high- frequency words like que will depend on the software available between now and the time of presentation. Even working with nothing more sophisticated than the reorganized text of the poem, however, we can draw a clear image of the range of explicitly expressed lexical values within which the relations of successive verses vary. Edward A. Heinemann University of Toronto

132 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991

Mercedes Vaquero El cicolo épico francés de la Primera Cruzada y la Leyenda de Cardeña Se cree que los monjes de San Pedro de Cardena, en un intento de igualar al Cid con Carlomagno, emplearon la Vita Karoli de Eginhardo o De gestis Karoli de Notker Balbulus para confeccionar el episodio de la embajada del sultán de Persia de la * Leyenda de Cardeña. En el presente trabajo, al comparar este episodio con otros textes carolingios, trato de demostrar que ciertos motives guardan mayor paralelo con la Chanson de Roland que con las obras de Eginhardo y Notker. Asimismo, pienso que este caso la figura con la que se trata de igualar al Cid no es la de Carlomagno, sino la de Godofredo de Bouillon. Es posible, en mi opinion, que el ciclo épico francés de la Primera Cruzada, bien en su forma original como los Enfances Godofroi o la Conqueste de Jerusalem, bien en su traducción castellana incluida en la Gran conquista de Ultramar, fuera su verdadero origen. Peter Russell sospecha que los monjes compusieron esta historia del Cid para racionalizar las leyendas orales sobre el culto sepulcral del héroe que circulaban por Cardeña. No sabemos cómo eran estas leyendas ni si la embajada del sultan de Persia era parte de ellas, pero ciertos testimonies parecen revelar que la transmisiôn de este episodio no se limitaba a la via de la escritura. En las cronicas de tradiciôn alfonsi—los siglos XIII al XV—se dice que el Cid empleó la mitad de los maravillosos regalos que el sultan le envió para la dote de las segundas bodas de sus hijas con los infantes de Navarra y de Aragón, pues la embajada ha sucedido tras la derrota de los infantes de Carrión. Ahora bien, en el Libro de bienandanzas e fortunas de Lope Garcia de Salazar (1471-76) y en un romance de origen desconocido del Romancero copilado por Juan de Escobar se afirma que el Cid dio buena parte de los regalos del sultan a sus primeros yernos los infantes de Carrión. Asimismo, la embajada del sultan es el tema de otro romance de origen desconocido de esta misma colección y también pudiera derivar de una fuente oral. Algunos rasgos comunes entre esta historia y ciertos romances españoles de tema carolingio revelan no sólo su común Abstracts / 26th Congress at Kalamazoo 133 deuda a las seudohistorias sobre las cruzadas sino también la compleja relación entre la épica francesa y la española. Mercedes Vaquero Brown University

Geert H. M. Claassens On Reconstructing the Proto-Saladin and Reconsidering the Second Crusade Cycle In about 1483 Arend de Keysere, master-printer at Oudenaarde, produced an incunabulum, which in the nineteenth century was titled Dystorie van Saladine. This long neglected Middle Dutch poem, 1692 lines in 211 1/2 eight-line stanzas, is perhaps the youngest (translated) version of the Old French Saladin. The original of this Old French poem, usually referred to as the *proto-Saladin, is now lost. In the Romance languages the story only survived in two fifteenth-century prose versions, which Larry S. Crist titled Saladin-1 and Saladin-2. The *proto-Saladin is believed to have formed (the last?) part of the "deuxième cycle de la croisade." In the discussion on the "ontological" status of this cycle the *proto-Saladin is one of the key problems: did this poem actually exist and what was its place in the cycle? And, mutatis mutandis, was the second cycle actually a medieval "unity," and if yes, what was its exact form? For lack of new data this discussion is now somewhat silenced. It is my firm conviction that Dystorie van Saladine brings enough information to renew the discussion of both the *proto- Saladin and the status of the second cycle. A comparison of Saladin-1 with Saladin-2 has given a partial insight into the contents and structure of the *proto-Saladin. But with the Middle Dutch incunabulum we have perhaps a more impartial tertium comparationis. From one point of view the incunabulum is a deformed representative of the *proto-Saladin: Dystorie van Saladine seems to be a reduced remaniement of a more 134 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991 elaborated, fourteenth-century Middle Dutch translation (of which only a small fragment survives) of the *proto-Saladin. And moreover, the stanzaic form, with its rigorous rhyme scheme (ababbcbc), will have had its deforming effect on the printed poem. But from another point of view Dystorie van Saladine might provide a closer approximation of the *proto-Saladin than the Old French prose versions. Unlike these texts the printed poem was not attached to another set of texts, or imbedded in a larger text. So the printed poem was not adapted to a different textual setting—as Saladin-1 and Saladin-2 obviously were—and hence it perhaps kept more of the original structure of its source. What I intend to do is to make a comparison of both Saladin- 1 and Saladin-2 with the Middle Dutch incunabulum, to "extract" insofar as possible those elements that must have been part of the *proto-Saladin. With these new data—the comparison promises to give some surprising facts—I want to re-open the debate on the second crusade cycle. I do not believe that the problem can be solved once and for all, but in my opinion it is possible to give the concept of the second crusade cycle a more solid foundation and to circumscribe the conditions under which it can be used safely. Geert H. M. Claassens Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen

Jan A. Nelson The Abridged Prose Version of The Old French Crusade Cycle Preserved in Paris, B. N., fonds français 781 The prose version of The Old French Crusade Cycle preserved in Paris, B. N. 781 is of considerable interest. Both the manuscript and the text can be assigned to the thirteenth century; therefore, this abridgement was produced during the formative period of the cycle. Recent textuel critical studies of the latter facilitate the identification of the source or sources that were abridged. For instance, the text of B. N. 781 can be linked to the second revision of the Chevalier au Cygne. A comparison of the prose with its sources, in turn, provides insight into the process of Abstracts / 26th Congress at Kalamazoo 135 abridgement itself. Traces of original verse composition such as occur in Alfonsine prose do not occur here. On the other hand, words appear to cluster throughout the narrative in response to their presence in the source texts. If this is true, the presence of such clusters and the clusters themselves may provide a means of identifying the sources with even greater precision and reveal even more about the process of abridgement. There remains the broader question, however: what accounts for a prose abridgement during the formative period of the cycle? Jan A. Nelson The University of Alabama

Personalia

Barbara Sargent-Baur (University of Pittsburgh) has been quite prolific lately, even if not in the field of medieval epic. She has published three recent articles on Chrétien de Troyes: "With Catlike Tread: the Beginning of Chretien's Ywain" in Woledge Studies (Geneva: Droz, 1987), 163-73; "The Missing Prologue of Chretien's Chevalier au lion," French Studies 41 (1987), 385-94; '"Avis li fu': Vision and Cognition in the Conte du Graal" in Continuations... Grigsby Essays (Birmingham, Ala: Summa, 1989), 134-44; two articles on Béroul: "Béroul moraliste?" CCM 31 (1986): 289-97; "Béroul's Tristan and the Praise of folie" BBSIA 38 (1986): 289-97; and a book on Villon: Brothers of Dragons: Job dolens and François Villon (Garland, 1990).

Lenora Wolfgang's edition and critical study of the Lai de l'Oiselet: An Old French Poem of the Thirteenth Century was published by the American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia) in 1990.

136 Olifant / Vol. 16, Nos. 1 & 2 / Spring & Summer 1991

Personalia, cont. David P. Schenck has been named Interim Dean of the Sarasota Campus of the University of South Florida (effective January 2, 1990). This appointment will last for 12-18 months, after which he plans to return to his position as Assistant Provost of the main campus in Tampa.

Frances S. Chevalier, P.T. Instructor of French, Norwich University (Northfield, Vermont), is preparing a doctoral thesis that is a critical edition of the D redaction of the Couronnement de Louis and Charroi de Nîmes. She is also a recent recipient of a Graduate Support Award from Rutgers University.

Matthew Bailey, Assistant Professor of Spanish, College of the Holy Cross published "Lexical Ambiguity in Four Poems of Juan del Encina" in Romance Quarterly 4 (1989): 431-43 and "The Present Tense in Ennius and the Cantor de Mio Cid" in Romance Notes 3 (1986): 279-85. His present work includes a study of the Poema del Cid and the Poema de Fernán González, with an interest in developing a method of comparison that will offer evidence of the distinct nature of the clerecta and juglaría traditions.

Mary Jane Schenck spent the academic year 1989-90 at the Université de Dénin in Lomé, Togo, teaching writing and American literature. Olifant and the Société Rencesvals

Olifant, published quarterly by the American-Canadian Branch of the Société Rencesvals, is devoted to the promotion of the study of medieval epic literature in the various Romance tongues. Publication has been made possible through aid from the Deans of the Graduate School and the College of Liberal Arts, the Institute of Human Development and the Chairman of the Department of French and Italian of the University of Texas at Austin.

Membership in the Société Rencesvals is open to all persons interested in the medieval Romance epic. The society is organized into thirteen national branches, located in Belgium, Bulgaria, East Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Scandinavia, Spain, Switzerland, West Germany, and the United States/Canada. Current officers of the society are listed on the inside front cover of this issue of Olifant. The organization's main activities are international congresses, branch meetings, and the publication of bibliographical materials and papers read. Since 1958, the society has met triennially at various European locales for the purposes of hearing papers on epic subjects and facilitating contacts and discussion among medievalists. The next international congress will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1991. The American-Canadian Branch meets regularly each December (in conjunction with the annual convention of the Modem Language Association of America) and each May (in conjunction with the Conference on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan).

Details of forthcoming international congresses and reports on past congresses appear in an annual Bulletin bibliographique and in Olifant. The Bulletin bibliographique is edited at the Université de Liège, with contributions from the various national branches. Both Olifant and the Bulletin bibliographique contain notices, information on work in progress, and a listing of papers read and editions and critical studies published, along with mentions of reviews, on the Romance epic. Olifant also publishes articles and reviews.

Membership in the American-Canadian Branch, which includes a sub- scription to Olifant and the annual Bulletin bibliographique, is $23 per year for individuals, $33.50 for joint membership (one copy of publications), and $15 for students. An individual subscription to Olifant costs $12.00 (U.S.) or $15.00 (issues mailed outside the U.S.). Institutional subscriptions cost $18.00 (U.S.) or $24.00 (foreign). All membership and subscription inquiries and payments should be directed to Robert F. Cook, Dept. of French, 302 Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA. Olifant, the publication of the Société Rencesvals, American-Canadian Branch, appears quarterly © William W. Kibler. The editorial assistant for this issue was Sharon Feldman.

Comments and queries are welcome, as are offprints of published articles suitable for abstracting in Olifant. Review copies of books which deal with any aspect of the Romance epic should be sent to Catherine Jones, Dept. of Romance Languages, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. Other communication should be directed to the general editor, William W. Kibler, Dept, of French and Italian, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 78712, USA. COVER: A collage of olifants that have appeared on previous covers of Olifant. Cover design by Mark N. Taylor