The Romance of Thebes (Roman de Thèbes) by Joan M. Ferrante Robert W. Hanning

Abstract

 Reviews cognitive activity leads directly to relevant selection. It is not, aer all, rational inferential processes alone that determine emergent structure as understood by blending theory. Nor is metaphor simply a matter of broadening and narrowing. Because relevance theory is historically grounded in reaction to the conduit metaphor of communication and constrained by its reliance on conscious conceptualizations , it needs to embrace more openly the theories of third-generation cognitive linguistics that draw more generally on recent research in the neurosciences , psychology, phenomenology, semiotics, and cognitive metaphor. at said, these reservations should not distract from the important contribution this volume makes to the understanding of relevance theory and its relation to literary interpretation. It shows explicitly what relevance theory shares with other cognitive approaches and how it differs. In respecting the power of literary language as ostensive performance, it invites rather than imposes interpretative strategies that inform the best of literary criticism. M I  C   A M H. F e Romance of ebes (Roman de èbes). Trans. by J M. F and R W. H. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. .  pp. $. ISBN ––––. e Roman de èbes first appeared between  and  and remained popular throughout the next two centuries. It claims to be a translation of Statius’s ebaid but frequently deviates from its source material to create a decidedly medieval milieu. With this in mind, it is particularly welcome that this publication contains not just a new translation of the text, but also a critical introduction to the work’s historical context. Joan M. Ferrante and Robert W. Hanning provide an outline of the poem’s place within the twelh-century literary scene, a comparison between ebaid and èbes, and discussions of the concepts of courtoisie and representations of feudal issues. e analysis of the work’s characters is particularly well done, and special attention is paid to the female characters who are so central yet have frequently been overlooked. e introduction also lists èbes’s extant manuscripts, overviews the modern editions, and provides specificities of the particular manuscript upon which the translation is based: London, British Library, Add. . is late fourteenth-century manuscript was commissioned for Henry Despenser, the Bishop of Norwich, colloquially known as the ‘Fighting Bishop’. A description of Henry, his career, and the conjectures as to his attraction to èbes adds some interesting colour and brings the text to life as a work that really did play an influential role in medieval lives. e list of manuscripts containing èbes is a helpful starting point, but unfortunately the description of their contents is incomplete: for example, Paris, BnF, fr.  is described as containing èbes ‘followed by Roman de Troie, Athis et Prophilias, and Roman d’Alexandre’ (p. ), but actually this manuscript contains over twenty additional texts to which no reference is made. Nevertheless, there is sufficient information for most readers, and those wishing to explore further are provided with a list of suggested further reading. e translation MLR, .,   itself strikes a good balance between faithfulness to the text and a pleasing modern readability. It is a shame that there is still no English translation of èbes that includes the original text in a facing-page arrangement, as, for example, there is with the modern French translations. However, the fact that Ferrante and Hanning have maintained the verse structure of the original text, and that this text was edited in a widely available edition (Roman de èbes, ed. by Francine Mora-Lebrun (Paris: Livre de Poche, )), means that readers wishing to make comparisons will find it relatively easy to cross-reference. Overall, this translation is a welcome addition to the field, and will be particularly valued by students and non-specialists looking for an introduction to èbes’s characters and stories. H-U  B S H La Correspondance d’Émilie Du Châtelet. Ed. by U K and A B.  vols. Ferney-Voltaire: Centre International d’Étude du e Siècle. .  pp. (vol. );  pp. (vol. ). €. ISBN –––– (set). is new critical edition of Émilie Du Châtelet’s correspondence is a scholarly compendium of the highest value. Replacing the carefully edited, but sparsely annotated and partly outdated Besterman edition (Voltaire...