A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes (review)

The flourishing companion genre is unambiguously aimed at students, but always with the proviso that specialists are 'also' addressed. Students will find this volume comprehensive and informative; specialists, however, will find themselves on familiar territory. Sixteen chapters are structured into three parts: 'Background', 'Texts', 'Medieval Reception and Influence'. It is thus easy to discern a traditional 'l'homme et l'oeuvre' approach with a salutary dose of philology in the chapters [End Page 352-] on manuscripts (Keith Busby) and editions (Peter Dembowksi) that conclude Part I: first our author is set in context, then we are offered textual readings, before an assessment of his immediate legacy. Some students will find this approach reassuring; as a teacher I find it somewhat disappointing since nowhere is there any evaluation of different critical approaches to Chrétien, nor is the thorny problem of Chrétien as a textually constructed author-figure tackled. Tellingly Sarah Kay's seminal essay 'Who was Chrétien de Troyes?' (Arthurian Literature, 15 (1997), 1-35) is included in the bibliography, but its implications are ignored. In fact, Chrétien is a shadowy historical figure, and virtually everything we know about him is gleaned from his texts. Thus John Baldwin's opening chapter, 'Chrétien in History', is a useful account (pedagogically) of historical context, but its title bespeaks a breezy confidence in the identification of an 'author' on the basis of a medieval textual tradition, and our ability therefore to situate him historically; similarly the chapter on 'Chrétien's patrons' (June Hall McCash) rests on familiar hypotheses derived from the texts themselves. The next chapters deal with 'Chrétien's Literary Background' (Laurence Harf-Lancner), 'The Arthurian Legend before Chrétien' (Norris Lacy) and 'Narrative Poetics, Orality and Performance' (Douglas Kelly). Students will find all three invaluable, since they offer concise syntheses of previous scholarship, though the treatment of literary background is regrettably confined to courtly romance.

I suspect Part II of this Companion will be the most popular with students. There are chapters on Pilomena (Roberta Krueger), Erec (Donald Maddox and Sara Sturm-Maddox), Cligés (Joan Grimbert), the Charrete (Matilda Bruckner), Yvain (Tony Hunt) and Le Conte du Graal (Rupert Pickens). All are worth reading: Bruckner's and Hunt's chapters in particular are poised, crisp and elegant. However, as with the chapters on Erec and the Conte, they are the work of scholars who have already published on these texts and their arguments are familiar. The highlights of this section for me were therefore Krueger's thrilling demonstration of the power and audacity of Philomena, together with Grimbert's lively reading of Cligés, which engages Chrétien arch playfulness and complexity with dexterity and verve. The final section addresses 'The Continuations of the Conte du Graal' (Annie Combes), 'Medieval Translations and Adaptations' (Michelle Szkilnik) and 'Chrétien's Medieval Influence' (Emmanuèle Baumgartner). Combes does an excellent job of unravelling the complex traditions of the continuations; Baumgartner's essay, which ranges widely over the subsequent verse and prose tradition is quite simply a tour de force of insight, erudition and intelligence, and is a stunning conclusion to the volume for students and specialists alike.