The Department of French and Italian presents a Gertrude F. Weathers lecture by
Anne Berthelot
The Return of Merlin
Thursday, April 10, 2008
4:00 pm
Federal Room, Indiana Memorial
Union
About the speaker: An “agrégée des lettres” and a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Anne Berthelot is now professor of French and Medieval Studies at the University of Connecticut. Following her dissertation for the French “Doctorat d’Etat” on the writer in 13th century French literature, she has written numerous books and articles on Medieval literature, focusing especially on the Arthurian legend with a comparatist approach. She is part of the team who is making the so-called Lancelot-Grail Cycle accessible to a large audience in the prestigious series of “La Pléiade” (Gallimard). Her most recent book is a synthetic presentation of the Arthurian legend for the Editions du Chêne, La Légende du roi Arthur (Fall 2004), which has now been translated into German. She is working on a book-length study of the enunciation problems in the Roman de Perceforest, and at the same time is preparing an edition of a little-known Arthurian romance that may be considered as the source for the Perceforest, the Roman des fils du roi Constant.
Abstract: From Of Arthour and Merlin to Herry Lovelich’s Merlin and the 1450 Prose Merlin, the end of the Middle Ages in England sees a sudden influx of texts focusing on the figure of the prophet-enchanter whose probable origin may be Welsh, but whose literary career has until then mainly been French. The return of Merlin to his country of origin (more or less) does not go as smoothly as could be hoped for, however. Although the “Prophete des Englois” is obviously and officially from “Logres”, his status as “Brit”, Breton or British, makes his adoption into and by the English world slightly problematic: technically, Merlin, as Arthur himself, is the enemy of these Saxons who conquered the British.
Furthermore, in Merlin’s case the transitive reasoning that serves as propaganda to convince Welsh and Cornish people they are naturally the French-speaking Norman invaders’ allies (enemies of my friends are my enemies; or is it enemies of my enemies are my friends?) stumbles on the fact that the mage’s francité is unusually untranslatable. Merlin in the French texts relies heavily on puns and play on words – the most famous two are his boasting that Vertigier’s clerics were wrong about him being an «enfant sans père» (fatherless child), while he is in fact an «enfant sans pair» (peerless child), and immediately after his affirming that the usurper’s falling tower will hold «par mon sen, et non par mon san[c]» (through my sense, not my blood).
The alternative strategies of Middle-English texts to bypass this obstacle eventually lead to the recovery of a lost character, decidedly acclimated to England precisely at the time where his star is fading in France. The ultimate step in translatio studii is not only cultural but linguistic, in a revolutionary process that makes one vernacular language the heir of another one. Nevertheless, in the course of this “translation”, Merlin undergoes a number of transformations which herald the in-depth modifications of the Arthurian legend in late medieval English literature – culminating in Thomas Malory’s extremely un-French Morte D’Arthur. This talk will focus on the “sacrifices” Merlin has to do in order to become the English character who will go down the centuries until his blooming “revival” in Post-modern times and texts.
Sponsored by the Mary-Margaret Barr Koon Fund of the Department of French & Italian and the Medieval Studies Institute. The lecture will be in English. Followed by a reception.
If you have a disability and need assistance, accommodations can be made to meet most needs. Please call 855-5458.
