Le Chevalier as deus espees (review)

This is an excellent edition of a long (in fact, 12,361 lines in length) but interesting text with a matching English translation which is not in verse but more or less follows the original line by line. There is a fairly brief introduction which covers the only surviving manuscript, the audience, comparable knights with two swords, the Lady of Caradigan, fathers and sons and ironic identities. Slightly more attention is given to the textual past, the rereading of the text and the language. The notes to the text are mainly concerned with points of language, and there is a short bibliography and a useful index of proper names. It is a pity that the introduction does not include a brief summary of the poem, which could be very helpful in trying to find a particular episode in a poem of this length. A more detailed study of the literary merits of the poem would also be welcome, as the reader is given no clear idea of where the poem is ranked amongst the Arthurian romances in France. The survival of only one manuscript suggests that it was not highly valued in its own time, but reading it shows that it is not without interest. Some of the suggestions in the introduction seem a little forced. For example, the link between the Meriadeuc of Le Chevalier as deus espees and the Meriadeuc of Marie de France's Guigemar is not wholly convincing, although interesting. The editing of the text seems to be very good indeed while the translation is clear and very accurate. Occasionally it is a little freer than is strictly necessary but it reads very well and is easy to relate to the original French. It makes the text completely accessible even to those who have no French, who will be able to read it with enjoyment. Professor Rockwell is to be congratulated on what must have been a lengthy and sometimes difficult task.