The Interlace Structure of the Third Part of the Prose Lancelot (review)

This book is a detailed study of a narrative technique first described by Ferdinand Lot in his Etude sur le Lancelot en prose, published in 1916. Building on the work of Lot and many others scholars, Brandsma sets out to examine how interlacing structures the third part of the Prose Lancelot. While the first part (Lancelot's childhood and the Galehot section) and the second part (the Prose Charrette) have been carefully scrutinized, the final one, according to Brandsma, has been unjustly neglected by modern scholarship, which has deemed it confusing and rambling. Yet, the manuscript tradition suggests that Part 3 was read and enjoyed in the Middle Ages to a larger extent than Parts 1 and 2. Brandsma also points out that it recounts 'the best years of Lancelot's life' (5) and moreover introduces a new theme, the Grail, that forces the reader to reconsider the two main themes of the first parts: identity and love. By its very complexity, Part 3 provides an excellent field to study the interlacing technique at its most refined and intricate.

Following Carol Chase's distinction between narrative technique (the alternation of narrative threads) and thematic interlace (interweaving of themes), Brandsma focuses first on the 'syntax' of the romance, showing how the switch between narrative threads is regulated by the well-known formulas Or dist li contes / Or se taist li contes. When the tale ceases to relate the adventures of a character, he enters a 'durative state;' when his story is picked up again, he is in an 'active state.' Next to this process of 'Alternation' underlined by the formal switch, two other methods allow the picking up or releasing of a narrative thread: 'Combination' (when a knight whose adventures are being told meets another knight whose story was temporarily suspended) and 'Separation' (when two knights on a common quest separate and the tale follows only one of them). Each narrative thread brings forward one character and makes up a 'récit biographique,' the extent of which can be reconstructed by the reader. Brandsma distinguishes between primary threads and secondary threads and explores how they connect either directly or by way of references. Sections on time and space further examine connections supplied by the Prose Lancelot's precise chronology and complex geography. Overall this part offers a very thorough description (illustrated by many tables) of the narrative syntax of the Prose Lancelot and amply shows that 'Lancelot is a world in words' (91), which strives to achieve the status of a veridical and comprehensive chronicle.

The second part focuses on themes, questioning the meaning of the complex structure uncovered in the first part. Brandsma discerns three main themes: status (which now replaces identity), love, and the Grail. Like the narrative threads, these themes alternate and combine. Yet their patterning does not reflect that of the narrative threads. Brandsma does not muse over this discrepancy although he states that the interlace technique provides the means of developing the main thematic lines (113). Chapter 3 does reflect back on the narrative technique described in Chapter 2 but does not explain why themes and narrative threads do not mirror each other. This chapter presents interesting insights, for instance the way Bohort, as Lancelot's double, challenges his cousin's supremacy, thus preparing his own prominent role in the Queste del Saint Graal. Yet Bradsma seems at times repetitive since many episodes studied here have already been fully examined in Chapter 2.

A last chapter, in the form of a conclusion, ponders the reception of the romance by a contemporary audience. Brandsma hypothesizes that the interlacing was 'designed as an adequate way of distributing the essential information in acceptable portions' (201). It also allowed for a better assessment of each knight's merit as compared to others, and presented moral issues that might have sparked debates among listeners. Brandsma contends that although very demanding to its audience, the Prose Lancelot...