The Art of Medieval French Romance

1. Conjointure

1 Conjointure "What matter? There's more where that came from . ... I have only to turn it on or off. ... I'm a prestidigitator, I am." And from the lie I would make a truth. I'd spool it off (my unfinished opus) like a man possessed-themes, subthemes , variations, detours, parentheses-as if the only thing I thought about the livelong day was creation. With this of course went considerable clowning. -H. Miller The word conjointure is as ubiquitous in modern scholarship as it is rare in romance prologues and epilogues. Yet modern fascination with the word masks a startling, even disturbing variety of meanings that are attributed to it.1 In reference to romance, the noun appears to be a hapax in the Middle Ages, occurring only in verse 14 of Chretien's Erec. In fact, it is probably a nonce word, appearing at a time when estoire and roman were acquiring the specific generic senses of romance in the late twelfth century. That is, estoire as any kind of narrative was becoming roman as a specific narrative genre. That may be why, in the Prologue to the Bel inconnu, Renaut de Beaujeu adapts Chretien's statement, replacing conjointure by roman: "Veul un roumant estraire / D'un molt biel conte d'aventure" (4-5) [I wish to draw a romance out from a very beautiful tale of adventure]. Roman as conjointure will therefore serve as a point of departure for this study of the art of romance as the art of bele conjointure. French Lexicography: Jointure The word conjointure was not unusual. It was used to refer to any combination of elements, however unwieldy, untidy, or heterogeneous. The expression bele conjointure itself, which Chretien may have coined, allows for a 15 Copyrighted Material 16 Conjointure conjointure that is not bele, like the rent and mutilated conte d'avanture Chretien contrasts his Erec with. However, conjointure appears not only as a noun, but also as a verb, a modifier, and, without the prefix, asjointure in its various parts of speech.2 For example, it could describe structural design. La sepolture si assist Que nule autre chose n'i ot; Bien la seele, et joint, et clot. Et lors se pOlst bien prisier Qui sanz malmetre et sanz brisier Ovrir ne desjoindre selist Rien que Jehanz fet i elist. (Cliges 6072-78; emphasis mine) [He constructed the sepulchre and nothing else. He seals, joints, and closes it well. He or she could indeed be proud who would succeed in removing or unjointing without mutilation or break anything Jehan had made in it.] The description recalls language Godefroi de Leigni and Chretien use to describe narrative closure: so well jointed and complete that nothing is lacking , nothing is mutilated, nothing superfluous.3 It follows that jointure, as "jointing,"4 brings together two or more parts and makes a whole out of them. Par tel engin et par tel art Est fez Ii huis de pierre dure Que ja n'i troveroiz jointure. (Cliges 5524-26) [The hard-stone door is made so subtly and skillfully that you will never find any jointing in it.] In the Queste del saint graal a description of David's sword includes similar language: "un pont de pierres precieuses si soutilment jointes qu'il n'ait ... regart terrien qui pOlst conoistre l'une de l'autre, ainz quit chascuns qui Ie verra que ce soit une meisme chose" (p. 223.8-12)5 [a pommel of precious stones so finely joined that no human eye could distinguish the one from the other, but rather every observer will presume it to be all of one piece]. Subtle "jointing" seems therefore to distinguish the conjointure that is bele. Subtle jointing fits the senses "attractive, well proportioned, shapely," the pleasing disposition of parts in human beauty. The combination of members extending from the part in the hair to the neck, the waist, or the feet Copyrighted Material Conjointure 17 is adorned with a pleasing array of noble and ideal social and intellectual components. The beautiful object of description is joint: all parts make a whole. Et la pucele vint plus cointe Et plus acesmee et plus jointe Que espreviers ne papegaUl. (Perceval 1795-97; my emphasis)6 [And the maiden arrived appearing more elegant, gorgeous, and shapely than a sparrow hawk or a bird of paradise.] The examples found in dictionaries illustrate a number of contexts for...