Medieval French Literature: An Introduction (review)

Short Notices 285 Zink, Michel, Medieval French Literature: An Introduction (Medieva Renaissance Texts and Studies 110), trans. Jeff Rider, Binghamton, Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of N e w York, 1993; paper; pp. xii, 171; R.R.P. US$8.95. In his foreword to this edition of Michel Zink's weU known book, David Staines praises precisely that quality for which this work, and Zink himseU, can be most admired, in pointing out that: By means of—not in spite of—his immense knowledge of medieval French literature, Zink . . . proves himseti a supreme 'generalist', a term too often in disrepute now, whose inquiries take him through a landscape of his own knowledge towards an understanding of the development of a literary culture, (p. ix) Zink's aim is to present a comprehensive and comprehensible a of the development of medieval French literature. The book is not exhaustive, but is none the less exemplary. Zink follows literary developments through four chronological stages, which, he points out, 'are not arbitrary and can be made to coincide, without artifice, with the stages of a reasonable and coherent account of the development of this literature'. From 'The Conditions of a Genesis' to The Blossoming', through 'The Establishment of Literature' and on to "The End of the Middle Ages', Zink traces the gradual and sometimes remarkably swift development of literature in France, never losing sight of i t s social implications, always viewing i t as a process in the larger politics of the time of its development. His ultimate aim is to indicate both the difference of medieval French literature and the ways in which the modern reader can access and enjoy it—a process which for Zink becomes as much a self-discovery as an illumination of the other. Medieval literature cannot be approached through the conventional distinctions of other periods, including our own, but neither is i t as off-putting and glacial as has sometimes been suggested and as one might at f i r s t think.... I t is not futile to attempt to understand and appreciate this literature. First 286 Short Notices and foremost, because it is pleasurable, but also because the discovery of a world which was simultaneously so near and so far form our o w n invites us to take a n e w look at ourselves. (p. 138) Rider's translation captures well Zink's enthusiasm for his subject, and retains the clarity as w e U as the quatity of personal feeling and expression evident in the original text. A n excellent addition to the book is Zink's conclusion to his Litterature Francaise du Moyen Age (1992), which gives this new edition a greater sense of completion and coherence than—in retrospect—the original. The Chronology (pp. 149156 ) has been considerably expanded from the original, apparently to allow those w h o know more English than French history to place the literary developments within this historical timeline also. Rider can be praised for bringing to an English audience one of the best introductory texts to the literature of the French middle ages. This book is useful, easy to read, and an excellent basis for further studies. Jennifer Smith Department of History University of Western Australia ...