«Видение о “Романе о Розе”» Жана Жерсона: дебаты во сне и наяву

Abstract

The article analyzes the treatise of Jean Gerson, the outstanding French theologian of the 15th century and Chancellor of the University of Paris, “Le traictié d’une vision faite contre Le Ronmant de la Rose”, written on May 18, 1402. This work was created in the midst of the so-called dispute about the Roman de la Rose, in which prominent intellectuals of the early 15th century, the first French humanists — Christine de Pizan, Jean de Montreuil, the brothers Gontier and Pierre Col — took part. The treatise is an account of a vision in which Jean Gerson was allegedly present at the trial brought against Jean de Meng, the author of the second part of the Roman de la Rose, which is strikingly misogynistic. The article analyzes in detail the literary techniques used in this work, the genre of the treatise, and also raises the question of why Gerson needed to transfer the real literary debates that were going on between supporters and opponents of the Roman de la Rose into a fictional reality and give them the character of judicial debates. The author concludes that Jean Gerson’s treatise may have been based on the idea of dreams as Divine revelations, as omens of future — and quite real — events. Thus, the verdict regarding the Roman de la Rose and its author, Jean de Meng, was to be pronounced not in a dream, but in reality, and not by a fictional character, but by the chancellor of the University of Paris himself.