Hagiographie et mise en prose au xiii e siècle. L’exemple de Barlaam et Josaphat

Abstract

It is rare to find French sources in verse for lives of the Saints written in vernacular prose in the 13 th century. This study of the reworking of the anonymous version in verse of Barlaam et Josaphat focuses on the way such productions may have handled their models and integrated certain characteristics of the verse into the prose form. From the perspective of narrative economy, the quantitative relationship that the reworking of Barlaam has with its source makes it possible to determine the rewriter’s interventions and to shed light on part of the relationship between these two versions and the Latin Historia ( B.H.L. 979). Starting from the distinction between mise en prose and dérimage , this paper then focuses on the techniques used to create writing that promotes an esthetic of compromise between fidelity to the source text and intelligibility of the target text. From that perspective, rewriting becomes a process of appropriation of an earlier text as well as a literary language in development, notably in leaving the preexisting verse tradition behind.