Philippe de Vigneulles and the Art of Prose Translation (review)

In the first monograph-length work dedicated to Philippe de Vigneulles (1471-1527/8) as late medieval prosifier of the Old French Lorraine epic cycle, Catherine M. Jones presents an enlightening and engaging study of both an individual and a literary genre meriting further research. Her twin goals are to promote the integral role of mises en prose, 'one of the last frontiers in medieval studies' (p. 12), in literary and cultural history, and to recognize Philippe's distinctive contribution to the genre as well as the implications of his interventions for refreshing scholarly approaches to prose translation. Philippe was a Messin cloth merchant and 'autodidact of peasant ancestry' (p. 8), and his work is unusual for being neither clerkly nor the product of patron commission. He evolves a self-imposed project with civic bias, invested in shaping the cultural identity of Metz. Jones's methodology is comparative: first, within the genre of mises en prose, with other prose translations of the period, especially two other renderings of the Lorraine cycle — the courtly Burgundian Histoire de Charles Martel and a much abbreviated Prose de l'Arsenal — so as to tease out the specificity of the cloth merchant's 'prosaics of translatio' (p. 14); second, across Philippe's varied body of work, to argue for 'a coherent corpus that enlists chronicle, clothmaking, autobiography, comic tale and chanson de geste' (p. 129) in developing his personal preoccupations. The study is organized around the prosifier's methodological principles, both articulated in paratexts and demonstrated across his texts. Following a lucid expository introduction (Chapter 1), individual chapters explore Philippe's conception of the medium of prose (Chapter 2), examining very interestingly his conscious operation in a multilingual culture; his engagement with the matter of Lorraine (Chapter 3), especially to exploit its geopolitical resonance; and his textual interventions in the art of dérimage (Chapter 4), with particular reference to the authorial revisions present in extant copies of his work. Throughout, Jones is helpfully precise in gauging the nature and scale of Philippe's reworking of epic material; textual examples are judiciously selected, notably in the detailed study of binomials and temporal and spatial deictics in Chapter 4. Caution is also exercised when discussing contemporary reception of his work; given his posited cultural agenda of ennobling Metz, one would suppose the question of audience to be important. Jones notes that we are limited to working from the knowledge that 'he had the means to promote his work', as 'it is not clear to what extent Philippe was able to reach a wide civic audience in the absence of print publication' (p. 48 n. 16). It is a shame that no illustrations could be included in the volume, either of the author-executed miniatures from one of the extant manuscripts or of the cloth-merchant's textiles, such as the mosaic fabric of 1507, given Jones's compelling argument for the integrated nature of Philippe's activities in his overall cultural project. Jones's study not only identifies the literary, linguistic, and cultural significance of the Messin writer's prosaics, but also, it is hoped, stimulates reinvigorated critical interest in the craft of mise en prose.