Le Mythe de Bertran de Born du Moyen Age à nos jours (review)

Abstract

REVIEW ARTICLE MartineDauzier. LeMythedeBertrándeBornduMoyenAgeànos jours. Paris: Presses de l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1986. Institut de Langue et Littérature d'Oc, no. 4. Pp. 247. Textual understandingnot onlyinvolves knowingthe manuscript tradition but also how the texts and the authorial figure continue to be read and performed. Study of this large scale reception frequentlyprovidesimportantinsights towhythemedieval text moves as it does and what its structural foci are. Discovering the acculturation is difficult since medievalism is more a phenomenon than the highly developed field it deserves tobe. Such studyoften demandsskillsinforeign languages,arthistory, music, anthropology, and theaterin addition to knowledge ofhistory and aesthetictraditions. Martine Dauzierhas performedwellin most of these areas. Herbookfeaturesanavant-propos(5-9),fourteentitledand subdividedchaptersfollowedeachbynotes(11-200),aconclusion (201-11), anAnnexe iconographique (213-31), a Bibliography (23241 ), and an Index des auteurs et des artistes (242-5). Dauzier's displayofthevisual matteralone isveryinformative. ThisAnnexe maps out the two main branches of Bertran's mythification as Dantean horror and passionate chevalier. Such a striking splitin the visual tradition supports Dauzier's prefacing argument that the widespread, persistent and varied use of Bertrán argues his placein"1 imaginairecollectif(6)oftheMiddleAges,theemerging nation-state and his embodiment "de la force duverbe poétique" (6). This latter characterization seems to act as mythic catalyst. Although Dauzier emphasizes the variety of shapes Bertrán inhabits throughout the centuries, he usually embodies extraordinary energy and is often presented as passionate and tortured~a typical epic hero. This energy is grounded in his poetic persona anditslinkto theinfernal. Theauthordoesnot,however, examine the nature and operation ofmyth nor does she base herwork on sources that do. Dauzier proposes to use Bertrán as a "lieu d'observation privilégié" (6) for the struggle of tradition, nation, andlibertysince theRevolution~an admirable Bicentennialgoal. Wherethatobservationpointislocatedrelativeto thesehistorical nodes remains obscure. Nonetheless, adequate literary and historical commentaryon Dauzier'sbriefyet packedchapterswould 8 Patricia Harris require many pages. My remarks focus on how Bertran's poetic re-enactment of energy, death and gender crisis shifted into a mythicfigura that controls subsequent permutations. My own immediatesources onmythare G.S. Kirkand GeorgesDevereux. Before trying to follow these mythic elements (Kirk, 1-83; Devereux , 5-23) inthe manifestationsDauzierreports, Iwillfocus on historical issues. HavingintegratedBertrán to the Bicentenary ofthe French Revolution without specifying the integrating factors, Dauzier goesontolayoutthedifficulties ofherwide-angledresearch. This is a usefulsketch ofhowto frame a project in medievalism. What is missing, however, is a sense that Bertrán belongs to the great upheavals she mentions and that he belongs to the tradition of great literature as much as he does to popularization. Dauzier retreats from the grandeur implied by her assertion ofhis mythic dimension. Her first chapter shows a surprising ambivalence toward her subject as she underlines his minimal presence in contemporaryhistorical records. Ifshe did not have access to the demonstration ofBertran's localpowerin the Paden-SankovitchStablein edition, it is surprising that she makes no reference to WilliamD. Paden's"DeMonachisrithmosfacientibus." Shenoted his Romania article, without engaging Paden's assertion of Bertran 's power. While she admits Bertran's immediate importance in Occitan poetry, Dauzier stresses his absence in the chronicles. To saythatBertránspeaks ofand aboutkingsyet their chronicles do not speak of him (12) is not to acknowledge that his poems usually criticize royal figures. Even in literature, she finds no Bertrán de Born "vu par les autres" (13). Dauzier mentions the genresheformulatedandtheinfluenceofhisdomnasoisseubudathoughonemightwonderaboutthestoryofZeuxiscomposingthe most beautifulwoman from many (see David Summers: 186-90). Bertrán"vuparlesautres"isrecordedinhispoetryandintheways it is used by other poets: he was the troubadour who was most imitated and who imitated most. Dauzier does not explore the trickyterrain ofthepoemsthemselvesnordoes shecite anyofmy relevant articles. Dauzier stresses the absence of the historical Bertrán de Borntoemphasize hisfictionalizationintherazos. Razos average two per poet for the forty-six troubadours who were so honored. Bertrán garners nineteenrazos, where there are only seven each Review Article forhisnearestcompetitors,Peire Vidal andGaucelmFaidit. The elementsofthemythDauzierreadstherebelong,however,toBertran 's poetry: war, will, passion, epic and charismatic persona ("personnage. . .séduisant"). Apersonaacquiressubjectiveforce by the way he is perceived to will, and a powerful will is often associated with erotic intensity. In the exemplum discourse (according to Dauzier) oftherazos, Bertrán is narrativized and read as an epichero. Epic is a focus ofBertran's artbuthis ownbond...