II22 Reviews Logic and Humour in theFabliaux: An Essay inApplied Narratology. By RoY J. PEARCY. (Gallica, 7) Cambridge: Brewer. 2007. 25I pp. $90. ISBN 978-I 84384-I22-7. Defining the fabliaux has occupied scholars forover a century,whether explicitly, in decisions over which texts should be included in collections such as Recueil general et completdes fabliaux byAnatole deMontaiglon and Gaston Raynaud (6 vols, Paris: Librairie des Bibliophiles, I872-90) orNouveau recueilcompletdesfabliaux byWillem Noomen and Nico van den Boogaard (io vols,Assen: Van Gorcum, i983-98), or im plicitly, in those numerous studies of characterization, themes, and humour, where critics fromBedier onwards have selected textswhich they consider representative of the genre. The objective of Roy J.Pearcy's volume is to reappraise what makes a fabliau, by rejecting Bedier's definition of 'des contes 'a rire en vers' and instead analysing how logic structures fabliau narrative, thus facilitating an appreciation of fabliau humour, a definition of thegenre, and the establishment of a corpus. Pearcy begins by demonstrating the linkbetween logic and humour with reference to classical genres such as fallaciae and sophismata (pp. I-5) and suggests thatpropo sitions debated in logical treatises often underlie the interactions of protagonists in fabliaux (p. 7). At the heart of Pearcy's theoretical approach lies the concept of a conjointure (a term borrowed from critical studies of romance) between a rhetori cal narreme and a logical episteme,which results in that element of fabliau humour which may be termed 'wit' (pp. 31-33). Pearcy's analysis of individual textsdraws on twomethods of defining relationships between characters and their interpretations of events. The Greimasian model of actantial analysis is used to demonstrate how characters interact along axes of desire, communication, and power, while epistemes are considered by applying notations fromBoolean algebra to different scenarios in order todemonstrate how plots are structured and how confusion is resolved. Pearcy ismeticulous in his application of these systems to a range of representative texts, including Cele qui se fistfoutre sur la fosse de sonmari, Auberee, and La Vieille et la Lisette, and his aim of classifying the fabliaux according to a rigorous analytical method is to be applauded. However, the complexity of the systems used requires an advanced level of understanding of logic on the part of the reader and may be somewhat impenetrable to thenon-specialist. Nevertheless, there are many aspects to the discussion which would appeal to a broader readership. The study of the relationship between fables and fabliaux consi ders how marital conflict and sexual violence are associated with the biological im pulses topromiscuity and rape in fableswith animal protagonists (pp. 87-I00). The development from fable to fabliau is traced partly through the increasingly significant role played byfin'amor in later fabliaux and a change in the attitudes to thehusband, who moves frombeing comic victim to the object of vicious derision (pp. IOI-2I). Furthermore, it is suggested that the true subversive nature of the fabliaux is to be found in logical aporia, whereby the linkbetween logic and truth isbroken and con sequently Aristotelian reasoning and the existence of absolute truths are challenged (pp. 208-o9). Pearcy's inventory, listed in an appendix with references to themajor fabliaux edi tions,numbers I22 texts,all ofwhich share similarities of narrative structure and in clude 'at leastone false inferenceand one reversal of truthvalues' (p. I25). He excludes thosetexts classed as tableauxdemceurs (e.g.La Veuve, Les TroisDamesdeParis), pious parodies (e.g. Saint Pierre et lejongleur), and jugements (e.g. Le jugement des Cons). Having adopted a new approach to the classification of the fabliaux, Pearcy antici pates inhis conclusion how theestablishment of this revised canon may contribute to furtherscholarship on the chronology and authorship of the genre. Notwithstanding the above-mentioned complexities of the logical and algebraic methods adopted, this MLR, I03.4, 2oo8 I I23 work isencouraging proof thatnew approaches may be fruitfullyapplied to the study of the fabliaux and thatmuch of the received wisdom of the long tradition of fabliau criticismmay be ripe for re-evaluation. SWANSEA UNIVERSITY ALISON WILLIAMS The Cloister and the World: Early Modern Convent Voices. Ed. by THOMASM. CARR, JR. (Studies inEarlyModern France, i i) Charlottesville, VA: Rookwood Press. 2007...
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Jan 1, 2010
Hugo Carretero-Dios + 2
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