Cantari della Reina d’Oriente (review)

This critical edition of the Cantari della Reina d’Oriente by Antonio Pucci represents a valuable addition to our knowledge of medieval Italian literature. One of the most interesting of the medieval Italian cantari, the Reina enjoyed tremendous success and became part of the standard repertoire of the canterini. Unfortunately, the poem is not widely known in the present day. For this the editors blame the fact that the poem is not easily identified with one of the three matières of medieval romance (classical, Arthurian, or Carolingian) and that its relatively long and complex plot make it difficult to anthologize. Furthermore, until now, modern readers have had at their disposal only the unreliable edition of 1914. Motta’s and Robins’s edition ought to draw more scholarly attention to this poem, which is interesting particularly in its portrayal of female power. The poem also includes a fascinating scene of female homoeroticism, a theme that deserves more scholarly work, particularly as it appears in Italian texts.

This edition of the Reina opens with a detailed introduction in which Motta and Robins situate the poem within the medieval literary landscape, consider its possible models and sources, and describe its critical reception. Most significant is a thorough explanation of the approach used to determine how best to present the poem, including a fascinating consideration of what the concept of textual ‘error’ might mean in the world of the cantari. Motta and Robins have actually given us two critical editions: on the left pages is a version of the earliest known text of the poem, datable to the last quarter of the thirteenth century; on the right pages is a text constructed from an examination of the poem’s whole textual history. This presentation represents two different methodological approaches, which the editors see as working in fruitful tension with one another. The editors see the text on the right as an experiment in a cladistic approach, according to which, the notion of ‘error’ having been problematized, a system of taxonomy similar to that used in the biological sciences is employed to diagram the relationships among editions of the text. The introduction is followed by a description of the poem’s various editions, a detailed description of the editorial methods used, and a presentation of the texts of the poem.

The poem itself recounts three stories. In the opening tale, the queen of the Orient finds herself in a struggle against the emperor of Rome, which ends with a military battle. In the second, the queen’s daughter, dressed as a man, marries the emperor’s daughter and is ultimately changed into a man. In the last, the women of the Orient find themselves opposed by the evil Donna della Spina. The central theme of female autonomy thus receives three different treatments, each in a different register. Motta and Robins judge the Reina to be one of Pucci’s best works, and indeed one of the most interesting of all medieval cantari.

After the texts of the poem, the editors provide a list of variants, notes on the texts, and a glossary (common to both versions of the poem) with archaic and unusual terms.

On the whole, this is a marvellous book. Pucci’s poem itself is fascinating and a joy to read. The critical apparatus is a model of scholarly integrity and devotion that nonetheless dares to advance a fresh approach to work of this kind. The benefits of this approach are obvious, and scholars of Italian literature owe a debt to Motta and Robins for their efforts.