Le Roman de Tristan en Prose vol. v (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Le Roman de Tristan en Prose vol. v Janina P. Traxler Le Roman de Tristan en Prose, vol. v, Christine Ferlampin-Acher, ed. Classiques Français du Moyen Age, no. 153. Paris: Champion, 2007. Pp. 594. ISBN: 978–2–7453–1526–7. 45 Euro. Publication of this volume concludes the edition of Prose Tristan manuscript BnF fr. 757 (the second half of Version I) and also a massive editorial project that Philippe Ménard began over twenty years ago. After finishing the edition of Vienna 2542 (Version II), Ménard’s team began editing the second half of the short version (I), starting where the two traditions diverge significantly as V.I omits and V.II includes the grail quest. Yet V. I does not simply omit material that V.II includes. Instead, both versions contain substantial new but not identical content. Volume V thus caps off a project of daunting complexity, critical both to the study of the prose Tristan legend and to the larger Arthurian corpus in French. The content of this volume covers the episodes between Tristan’s return to Yseut at Joyeuse Garde and the conclusion to the romance (Löseth §449 ff.). In her analysis, Christine Ferlampin-Acher designates two large narrative blocks and several themes. The narrative focuses initially on Tristan’s final chivalric adventures, especially in the company of the mysterious Chevalier à l’Ecu Vermeille (Brunor); then the romance turns to the end of Tristan’s world. Ferlampin-Acher’s thematic discussion focuses on several points, including the importance of Brunor’s presence, the use of incognito, the importance of discourse and commentary over act, and the interplay of chivalric and amorous imperatives. Tristan’s activities as an Arthurian knight clash with his devotion to Yseut throughout the prose romance, and the addition of the grail quest to Tristan’s story accentuates that conceptual problem. Unlike V. II, V. I drops the quest story almost immediately, though it reappears at several moments as Galaad and Tristan cross paths. For Ferlampin-Acher, V. I’s reduction of the quest to background is related to some of the most notable particularities of Volume V’s content. Without the grail quest, V. I’s lengthy treatment of Brunor takes on added importance, and Ferlampin-Acher’s masterful analysis of it elucidates several key features of the conclusion. The plot frequently takes curious turns as various characters conceal their identity, whether several characters at once or one character in a series of misleading guises. For example during Tristan’s extended adventure with Brunor, neither knows the other’s identity, each is mistaken for someone else, and when Brunor engages in judicial combat with Lancelot, he does so wearing Tristan’s arms. Ferlampin-Acher proposes that Version I compensates for the omission of the quest by developing the opposition of Lancelot and Tristan, an opposition that Brunor’s presence exacerbates. Brunor’s surprising reappearance, after being absent most of the romance, includes interaction with Tristan’s major companions and thus invites [End Page 82] comparison to Tristan and Lancelot especially, but also to Perceval and Galaad; he may serve as a counter-example to the ravages of love, since he alone of Yseut’s admirers does not die in misery or violence. Indeed, Ferlampin-Acher concludes that Brunor is ‘un Perceval mâtiné de Lancelot’ (85) and that Brunor’s portrayal combines the three faces of Arthurian romance that Lancelot, Perceval, and Tristan represent (86). The romance’s conclusion, which features Marc’s invasion of Logres so he can recapture Yseut, and the death of the lovers in Cornwall, further illustrates the competing facets of Tristan’s Arthurian life: his attachment to both Yseut and the Round Table. Tristan’s valedictory to Arthur’s court is as heartfelt and developed as his final words to Yseut. Ferlampin-Acher compares the concluding atmosphere to that of the Mort le Roi Artu. Arthur’s court survives, but awash in grief first over the deaths of the questers and even more over the deaths of Tristan and Yseut. Even Marc mourns the deaths he caused, and his construction of a magnificent tomb for the lovers exemplifies the enormity of...