Fictional Truth and the Prologue of the Heptam�ron

Abstract

Fictional Truth and the Prologue of the Heptaméron Sylvie L. F. Richards University of Missouri-Kansas City Modeled upon Boccaccio's fourteenth-century tales of pilgrims who entertain one another with stories to pass the time, Marguerite de Navarre's Heptaméron is an infinitely more sophisticated version of the genre. In the Prologue to her Nouvelles, the auctorial voice makes it clear that her stories will be different from those of her predecessor for, while he forsakes truth in order to entertain his readers, she promises to offer only stories which are grounded in truth (709). 1 This assertion of truth in fiction on the part of Marguerite has caused a perplexing problem for critics of her text. Pierre Jourda makes an extensive source search of her tales in order to prove that the Queen was basically telling the truth. He insists upon the originality of her work, even though he conclusively proves that many of her tales have their origin in other material (2: 685).2 His enthusiasm for the Queen seems to blind him to the fact that her text is fictitious and, as such, operates by a set of rules which by necessity undermines the veracity he wishes her to have. Nicole Cauzaran also searches for a rapprochement between the textual and the real and concludes that Marguerite, like other storytellers, simply conformed to an unstated "tradition du genre" (L'Heptaméron 33).3 Marguerite's claim to truth, Cauzaran says, is a "trompe l'oeil," a kind of narrative disguise through which she "cheats" her readers into believing the veracity of her verisimilitude ("les origines" 6).4 A cursory reading of the bibliography of works about the Heptaméron reveals that many critics have sought to solve this particular dilemma proposed by the author, each with some degree of satisfaction. But the question hangs over the text like the sword of Damocles: What does Marguerite mean by vrai?5 The answer lies in an understanding and a definition of fictional truth. Michael Riffaterre, in his work Fictional Truth, clearly delineates fictional truth from factual truth, for ". . . truth in fiction is not based on an actual experience of factuality, nor does the interpretation or esthetic evaluation of fictional narrative require that it be verified against reality. Rather, truth in fiction rests on verisimilitude , a system of representations that seem to reflect a reality external to the text, but only because it conforms to a grammar. Narrative truth is an idea of truth created in accordance with the 61 62Rocky Mountain Review rules of that grammar" (xiii-xiv).6 This "system of representations" implies an intratextual network of a symbolic or metaphorical order which can imbue the text with sufficient paradigms to make it structurally cohesive. In other words, what makes the text "true" is its symbolic overdetermination, its constant references to itself, its overlapping shifts which serve to confirm and affirm what has previously been said, what is being said, and what will be said, and that the text does not violate (or transgress) its own rules except for the purposes of underscoring them.7 Such an affirmation of veracity is made because storytelling in the Heptaméron has a much more universal purpose than mere entertainment . Each tale is held up to scrutiny under the light of New Testament Scripture, particularly the Epistles of St. Paul, so that human behavior can be measured against the exactitude of God's truth. With each tale, yet another step is taken in the mystical pilgrimage wherein Man is increasingly perfected as he seeks an ultimate unification with the Godhead. Like other texts of this genre, the Heptaméron begins with a gathering of storytellers at a monastery where they seek refuge from torrential rains which prohibit their continued journey since river waters have risen too high to cross safely.8 In addition, each person in the group has undergone a traumatic experience shortly prior to arriving at the monastery. Each therefore seeks solace and a peaceful interlude to life's raging storms. The monastery and its inhabitants provide the frame of the sacred and of the safe, outlined by walls and framed by familiar rituals and structured...