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The Song of Girart de Vienne by Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube: A Twelfth-Century Chanson de Geste by Michael A. Newth (review)

2001; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 96; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/mlr.2001.a825605

2222-4319

Philip E. Bennett,

Medieval Literature and History

throughout, has also added to Bouhours'sown Table desMatieres a greatlyamplified index on modern lines, and, to his list of authors quoted, further details and comments. She has furthermore provided a bibliography in five parts, covering Bouhours's complete works, books and articles about him and his works, studies relevantto the Frenchlanguage viewed historically,and authorsand titles referred to both in Bouhours'stext and in Dotoli's introduction. There are also seventeen plates of titlepages. EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE PETER RICKARD TheSongof Girart de Vienne byBertrand deBar-sur-Aube: A Twelfth-Century Chanson de Geste. Trans. and introd. by MICHAELA. NEWTH. (Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 196) Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies. I999. xxiv + 200 pp. [2I. For this translationof Girart de Vienne, the firstto be published in English, Michael Newth has adopted the perilous strategy of imitating the mono-assonanced decasyllabiclines and the 'orphaned'shortline that closes each laisseof the original. The strategyis perilous,particularlywhen a text of this sortis involved, because the result is bound to be judged by two standardsat once. The English decasyllables will be judged against the heroic pentameters of Milton and Dryden by those approachingthe translationwith no knowledgeof the original,while studentsof the Old Frenchepic will be concerned by faithfulness,or lack of it, to the sense of the original. Inevitably Newth's translation raises problems on both counts. As he explains in his introduction, his English decasyllablesare actuallyclosely modelled on the Frenchlines of the original, so that lines like 'That is my father,whom may LordJesus bless'(1.221 )willdisconcertan Englishreaderbecause of theunstressed second syllable of 'father' to be discounted at the caesura (a concept foreign to English pentameters).More disconcerting stillfor English readers (whetheror not they know that in Frenchmasculine and feminine rhymesare kept strictlyseparate) are sequences mixing imitations of these French types (feminine lines being represented by unstressed or semi-stressedsyllables or words at the English lineend ): 'On foot both knightsfight fiercely on the isle; IGreat blows they swap upon their helmet-stripes IAnd the sparksfly from their sharp blades of iron IBoth of their shields are reft and cleft aside IAnd their mail-coats so wrecked and ripped awry IThat not even one half of one survives;'(11. 5824-29 =5829-34 of the SATF edition). Some of the alliterativesound-effectsin these lines arevery impressive,but how the shields come to be 'reft' ('plundered')or 'cleft aside' are questions better not asked.The numerous and inevitable distortionsof the sense of the originalin a verse translation are unfortunate in a text more likely to figure in university comparative-literatureprogrammes than on the shelves of general readers. The translationis accompanied by a brief introduction and an index of proper names, mostly helpful, but with some odd slips:among others Ponthieu is described as a town, Le Mans is entered as 'Mans', and we are told that the shrineof StJames was [sic]at Compostela. UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGHPHLPEBNET throughout, has also added to Bouhours'sown Table desMatieres a greatlyamplified index on modern lines, and, to his list of authors quoted, further details and comments. She has furthermore provided a bibliography in five parts, covering Bouhours's complete works, books and articles about him and his works, studies relevantto the Frenchlanguage viewed historically,and authorsand titles referred to both in Bouhours'stext and in Dotoli's introduction. There are also seventeen plates of titlepages. EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE PETER RICKARD TheSongof Girart de Vienne byBertrand deBar-sur-Aube: A Twelfth-Century Chanson de Geste. Trans. and introd. by MICHAELA. NEWTH. (Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 196) Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies. I999. xxiv + 200 pp. [2I. For this translationof Girart de Vienne, the firstto be published in English, Michael Newth has adopted the perilous strategy of imitating the mono-assonanced decasyllabiclines and the 'orphaned'shortline that closes each laisseof the original. The strategyis perilous,particularlywhen a text of this sortis involved, because the result is bound to be judged by two standardsat once. The English decasyllables will be judged against the heroic pentameters of Milton and Dryden by those approachingthe translationwith no knowledgeof the original,while studentsof the Old Frenchepic will be concerned by faithfulness,or lack of it...