JEAN RENART’S NOVELS (L’ESCOUFLE, GUILLAUME DE DOLE) AND THE ISSUE OF THE “REALISTIC MEDIEVAL NOVEL”

Abstract

This article highlights the difference between Jean Renart’s novels and French novels of the “golden” 12th century. Its main feature is the absence of magic and Breton material. Instead, Jean Renart and some other 13th-century authors build their novels on the “material of reality”. During the 20th century, these novels were considered examples of the so-called “medieval realism”. Th e idea was introduced by French medievalist Anthime Fourier, who distinguished an “escape novel” (roman évasion) and a “mirror novel” (roman mirroir). Th e latter is a “refl ection” of reality, and the former is based on the Breton or Ancient Greek material. However, this distinction is controversial: the concept of “refl ection” of reality cannot be applied to 13th-century texts. More likely, the elements of “reality” — description of food, clothes, character’s appearance, and gestures — are also artistically transformed material, similar to the Breton material. They have a particular function and influence a character’s image and plot development. In this article, we analyze the elements of the “material of reality” and show how they are integrated in the novel’s universe. Also, this research provides a better insight into Jean Renart’s artistic methods: the “material of reality” becomes a canvas of which his text is made, transforming a “conte” into a “romans”.