Le Roman de Brut: The French Book of Brutus, Arthur Wayne Glowka

Abstract

MLR, 102.2, 2007 503 how a study of its textsand descriptions, inwhich the signature of the lexicographers can be felt,can enable us tograsp the 'intertextualityof the age' (p. 373). The subject of style as treated in this research is farfromexhaustive, but enables us better tounderstand the steps taken in thediscipline and the state of studies in stylis tics today.A few minor points mar thework. Rather bizarre and incongruous inan aca demic register,Georges Kleiber's use of some colloquial expressions inhis article on demonstratives ('ce n'est pas une galere' in a footnote (p. 282), 'voici labete' (p. 283), 'cene sont pas des demonstratifs coton' (p. 296)) seems completely inappropriate. The index does notmention eitherMozart or La Bruyere, who is theobject of an analysis. The diversity ofmethodologies aswell as some of the rather technical and sometimes abstruse academic vocabulary make some of these analyses barely accessible to the lay man, but restricted to specialists. Overall, thequality of some of these articlesmakes ita remarkable piece of researchwhich one can only recommend to scholars interested in the application of style and stylistics to grammar, linguistics, and literature. UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD MICHAEL ABECASSIS Le Roman de Brut: The French Book ofBrutus. By WACE. Trans. and introd. by ARTHURWAYNE GLOWKA. (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 279) Arizona: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 2005. 434 pp. $48. ISBN 978-o-86698-322-8. One must applaud Arthur Wayne Glowka forpublishing the firstcomplete metrical translation ofWace's 14,866 -lineRoman deBrut ( 155) so soon after Judith Weiss's prose translation (Wace's 'Roman deBrut': A History of the British (Exeter: Univer sityofExeter Press, I999; rev.edn 2002)). His purpose is to 'offer[a] verse translation beside Weiss's prose translation as a gesture toward providing the reader with a sense of the poetry of the original' (p. xxvii). The potential beauty of verse transla tionsnotwithstanding, Glowka's choice ofunrhymed English iambic tetrameter (with some variation) to echoWace's largelyunaccented Old French octosyllabic rhyming couplets isproblematic, especially when coupled with numerous misreadings. Glowka's principal strength ishis love of poetry and his sense of Wace's voice. His use of repetitionmirrors one ofWace's favourite stylistic techniques, a single verb formused in a series of lines e.g. duna, in Arthur's gift-giving (11.I0599-609, io6 i i, I06 I3-I6)-and ismore authentic thanWeiss's elimination of the verbal repetition in favour of a list: Duna deduiz, dunajoiels, He gaveadornments;he gave jewels; He gaveplaythings, Duna levriers, duna oisles, He gave out hounds; he gave out birds; he gave jewels, he gave Duna pelicuns,duna dras, He gaveout furs;he gaveout clothes; greyhounds, birds, Duna cupes,duna hanas He gaveout cups; he gaveout goblets[...] furs, cloth,cups, (11.Io6oI-o4) (Glowka) goblets [. .. (Weiss,p. 267) Glowka succeeds at recreating the tension and energy ofWace's battle scenes, as in Arthur's battle with theMont-Saint-Michel giant, though the tension isnot always substantially greater than in Weiss: 504 Reviews Artur fuforment airus Arthurwas quite angrythen; Arthur's bloodwas E merveilles fuengiegnus; Wondrous was his ability. rousedand hewas Corucied fuepour out. He was worked up, and hewas scared. also amazingly wily. EfforSasei tantcum ilpout; He forced himselftodo his best. Both angryandafraid, A sei traitede seiempeinst, He struggled tocompose himself. hemade everyeffort: Grant vertuout,pas ne sefeinst; He had greatstrength; he did notfaint. hepulled the giant to (11.II529-34) (Glowka) himandpushedhim violently. As hewas verystrong, he did not hesitate[. . .] (Weiss, P. 291) Types of frequentmisreadings which erode confidence include those in italics above and Hoel's response toArthur, 'Sire, dist il,enmeie fei, I Mult paroles raisnablement, I Nuls n'i puetmettre amendement' (11.I09 I0-I 2),where paroles is translated as a noun and raisnablementas an adjective: "'Sire", he said, "it ismy creed I That many reason able words I Cannot improve a single thing"' (11. I09IO-12) (Weiss: "'Sire", he said, "upon my word, you speakmost reasonably, no one could better it"', p. 275). Glowka misses opportunities to evoke the epic, using 'neck' rather than 'brain' for cervele (11. I 1548) inArthur's fatal blow against the giant, reminiscent of skull-splitting, brain-spilling deeds from...