Le Jeu du Prince des Sotz et de Mere Sotte by Pierre Gringore , Alan Hindley (review)

Abstract

196 Reviews of the earl of Oxford. The narrative is fairly conventional in its representation of court life and amorous intrigue, lacking the lurid elements of La Manekine with its tale of treachery, incest, infanticide, and self-mutilation, and its eventual miraculous resolution. None the less, Philippe tells a lively story with plenty of entertaining moments, such as the fractured French spoken by the uncouth earl of Gloucester, Jehan's rival; the series of gabs with which Jehan teases the earl; and the improbably valiant defence that Jehan and his tiny band mount against the earl and his much larger retinue, as the lovers are escaping to France. Jehan et Blonde is written in octosyllabic couplets, and in most cases each line constitutes a syntactic unit. This compositional style greatly facilitates translation, in that the English rendition can follow the original virtually line by line. SargentBaur 's translation is clear and idiomatic and will be of great help to students or non-specialistsattempting to read the Old French text but needing a bit of assistance. The shorter pieces are not translated, but this portion ofthe edition is equipped with a glossary that aims to include all potentially unfamiliar words and Picardisms. Sargent-Baur' s introduction comments brieflyon the identity and work of Philippe de Remi but then refers the reader to her much fuller discussion in the edition of La Manekine. Similarly, the bibliography includes only works referredto in this volume, a more complete bibliography having been included in the other edition. This is understandable , but also somewhat regrettable in that readers using the book will not necessarily have both volumes at hand. It is also to be regretted, especially in a book so expensively priced, that the introduction is marred by numerous typographical errors ,all of which should certainly have been corrected by any competent proof-reader. Despite these quibbles, however, Sargent-Baur's edition deserves to be on the shelves of all university libraries, and will certainly be welcomed by scholars, teachers, and students of medieval literature. Pembroke College, Cambridge Sylvia Huot Lejeu du Prince des Sotz et de Mere Sotte. By Pierre Gringore. Ed. by Alan Hindley . (La Renaissance Francaise, Editions et Monographies, 9) Paris: Champion, 2000. 213 pp. 250 F. ISBN 2-7453-0475-5. Pierre Gringore's play?in fact three related plays, a sottie, a morality, and a farce, totalling about 1,500 lines, and performed at the Halles in Paris on Mardi Gras in 1512?is a remarkable work in many ways; it is therefore all the more surprising that no true critical edition of the complete work has ever been published, although the farce was recently edited by Andre Tissier. Alan Hindley's fine edition has now filled this gap. The Jeu is somewhat unusual in that it is very closely linked to a precise historical moment, the Italian wars ofthe early 1500s and, in particular, the conflict between Louis XII and Pope Julius II. The fact that the Jeu is not anonymous is also untypical. Gringore's life is well documented, as Hindley shows; he was, moreover, very concerned with his authorial status and determined to ensure that his literary productions were not pirated. Medieval French comic theatre is often more problematic than the religious drama. The language of farces, sotties, and moralities can be very allusive, colloquial, even slangy; moreover, the content, with its political, religious, historical, and allegor? ical dimensions, requires considerable elucidation. The heart of editions of such texts is thus often found in the footnotes and the glossary. Hindley's presentation of Gringore's text successfully points out and explains virtually all of its linguistic and socio-political problems. His edition takes the classic form: an introduction of some fifty pages, covering topics such as the career of Gringore, the historical and religious MLRy 98.1, 2003 197 background, language and versification, staging, and a literary-dramatic analysis. The fully annotated text (that ofthe Paris edition, published probablyjust after the firstperformance, with the variants of the second edition, probably from 1511-20) is followed by two glossaries and a bibliography. There are, as in almost all such editions, a number of minor errors. Moreover, the 'toilette du...