Courtly Seductions, Modern Subjections: Troubadour Literature and the Medieval Construction of the Modern World by Fidel Fajardo-Acosta (review)

Fajardo-Acosta’s book presents itself as an investigation into the prevalence in Western culture of “the ethos of domination,” a mode of desire that seeks to gain and to maintain power either through economic means or through the economy of sexual relationships. The author deploys a host of theoretical approaches and secondary literature to make his point, but in my view his approach is most clearly influenced by the work of René Girard, especially his concepts of triangulated desire and the relevance of erotic narratives to the sociopolitical tensions in all societies. Fajardo-Acosta also cites Denis de Rougemont frequently, and it is clear that his perception of the endurance of the Tristan tradition and of courtly love into modern and postmodern Western culture is derived from his book of 1939. In the introduction, Fajardo-Acosta points out that it is a phenomenon that has arisen throughout human history, whenever money, leisure, and power have been concentrated in the hands of an elite. However, the present book focuses on only [End Page e-9] one specific instance of this phenomenon: twelfth- and thirteenth-century troubadour poetry and the short biographical narratives (vidas and razos) that accompany them.

The book has a dense, very detailed introduction, followed by three chapters. Chapter 1 is a very thoroughly researched, close reading of the “eaten heart” vida of Guilhem de Cabestanh. The literature survey is exemplary, although there is a slight digressiveness about the discussion of cannibalism (it is clear that cannibalism is a spectrum phenomenon that differs widely across cultures; it is equally clear that in the Western European “eaten heart” stories examined by Fajardo-Acosta, there should be a sharp distinction among unwitting, forced, and premeditated cannibalism). Unfortunately the translations are at times a bit skewed to fit the argument; the adjective greu means “harsh,” so the lord does not die in an “evil” prison (92). Similarly, el moric doloroisamen does not necessarily mean that he died “in pain” (92); it may also refer to grief or sorrow. Chapter 2 divides an intelligent analysis of triangulated desire into three subsections: “The Lord” is about the sexual politics of Guilhem IX, Duke of Aquitaine; “The Lover” is about the self-abasement of Bernart de Ventadorn (whom the author sees as a nonnoble); and “The Lady” analyzes the most ladylike of the trobairitz, Comtessa de Dia. In chapter 3, Fajardo-Acosta argues that hypocrisy is a force for harm in all cultures (I believe that no one would disagree with that), and he defines hypocrisy as a multiple phenomenon, one that chiefly covers fanatical preachers. This leads him to discuss crusade preaching and then to move into a sharp, well-researched, and insightful analysis of the poetry of Marcabru. He alleges that Marcabru (whose songs seem to place him in either Catalonia or Castile around 1145) is somehow connected to Bernard of Clairvaux’s antiheretical preaching campaign in the Languedoc in 1145. This enables him to then make a sweeping and in my opinion incorrect association with the career path of Folc de Marseille, a rather bland troubadour of a later generation who later became a Cistercian abbot and, later again, an ardent leader of the Albigensian Crusade. This is a missed opportunity, as there are some strong arguments in favor of putting Marcabru into the same basket as dubious moralists-turned-Cistercians of a later generation (Alain de Lille is another good example). Finally, the bitterness and frustrated ambitions of Folc de Marseille are blamed for the cataclysmic Albigensian Crusade, which is impossible to prove. However, there is evidence in razos and vidas that individual troubadours (Perdigon and Raimon de Miraval) were blamed for events in the crusade, so maybe this works on a poetic if not a historical level. [End Page e-10]

Courtly Seductions, Modern Subjections is not a comparative study in the sense...