Jeunesse et genèse du royaume arthurien: Les ‘Suites’ romanesques du ‘Merlin en prose’: Actes du Colloque des 27 et 28 avril 2007, Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris) (review)

The publication of contributions to a colloquium such as this one, which has a rather narrow focus, needs an introduction in order to draw in a readership beyond the dedicated specialist, and Nathalie Koble appropriately provides one in which she situates the area of discussion within the general framework of the development of thirteenth-century prose romance. In particular, she establishes the importance of Robert de Boron as the starting point of the texts that fill in the narrative gaps between Arthur’s coronation, where the original Merlin en prose ends, and his later, mature years, which form the background both in Chrétien’s verse romances and in the other prose cycles. The texts in question are known as the Suite-Vulgate, the Suite Post-Vulgate (or Suite du roman de Merlin), the Livre d’Artus and the Prophesies de Merlin. These four texts take different directions within or in spite of the constraints imposed by the narratives that had already established the events of the later years. The majority of the 13 articles in this volume, which are rather arbitrarily divided into four sections, are clearly expansions of the original papers and deal mostly with aspects of the Suite du roman de Merlin, often in comparison with the Suite-Vulgate. The Suite du roman de Merlin emerges as a complex and intelligently conceived narrative, and the authors of the individual articles tend to assume that the reader already has some familiarity with it. From article to article, despite different approaches and emphases, the same key incidents are frequently highlighted as significant both within the narrative and in relation to occurrences in those texts that describe later events. Central to many of the discussions is the role and nature of Merlin himself, seen as both prophet and magician, by reason of his diabolical origin. He is omniscient about other characters’ origins and past deeds, even knowing their dreams, while his commenting on events and their significance means that in some respects he doubles for the narrator himself. His prophecies relate to events either within the Suite du roman de Merlin or to those of the Queste del Saint Graal and the Mort Artu, and usually involve disasters, or concern crime and punishment. There are also interesting discussions on the nature of magic and enchantment, principally involving Morgan and Nivienne. As for the Grail, it is not physically present in the Suite du roman de Merlin, yet it is often referred to with the promise of its future rediscovery and eventual disappearance. It is described in the essay by Jean-René Valette as ‘le signe romanesque de Dieu’ (p. 216), in a rejection of Etienne Gilson’s view that it simply represented God’s grace. A generous bibliography containing all relevant editions and a selection of critical studies are also usefully provided. For anyone working on the prose romances, these closely argued essays will prove a must, but the sheer complexity of the texts under discussion may well put off the more generally interested reader, despite the helpful introduction.