Irrepressible Malebouche

Abstract

The Roman de la rose demonstrates the complexity and versatility of voice in Old French narrative. The “losengier” figure of Malebouche, who appropriates and transforms other people’s discourse, illustrates how utterances in the text function. As Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of heteroglossia suggests, the voice of each speaking subject is constituted by the citation of other voices, but the “entencion” and context of each utterance make it unique. Bakhtin’s related concept of polyphony leads us to investigate the ethical significance of speech acts, since different voices in the romance possess authority to varying degrees. Although women’s voices are denied authority in the text, the authority of Jean de Meun’s narrator and of other anti-feminist voices is also undermined. While women are accused of misusing language in the same manner as Malebouche, the resemblance of male figures to Malebouche contradicts this essentialist view of gender.