Heroines of the French Epic: A Second Selection of Chansons de Geste trans. by Michael Newth (review)

Heroines of the French Epic is aimed squarely at students unacquainted with the chanson de geste and at risk of remaining that way. The collection continues the author’s ongoing efforts to provide accessible English versions of an extensive selection of medieval French epics for classroom use in a broad curricular context, or indeed for a curious general public.

The volume contains complete verse translations of six chansons chosen ‘to illustrate the range of roles gradually accorded to women in these originally militaristic narratives’ (ix). To this end Newth identifies four types of female roles whose transformation he views as revealing of the genre’s evolution. These are ‘woman as helpmeet, woman as lover, woman as victim and woman as spiritual model’ (ix). The works translated include The Capture of Orange, The Song of Floovant, Aye of Avignon (I and II), The Song of Blancheflor, and Bertha Broad-Foot, all arranged in chronological order.

Newth’s translations privilege a conveyance of the esthetics of orality over the finer nuances of literal meaning; hence, assonance and syllabic line counts are mostly preserved. The author defends this decision by pointing out matter-of-factly that a prose translation necessarily commits a different sort of inaccuracy (ix). The French titles selected are not uniformly of the most recent or critical vintage, but that is perhaps not Newth’s purpose. Having made a career as a teacher of Modern Languages, Newth is an amateur in the old-fashioned sense of the word: a lover of the narratives presented here, and a lover of Old French Epic. In lieu of a detailed bibliography, the reader will find only suggestions for further reading. There, six titles suffice to represent the cornucopia of recent scholarly attention to women and gender in the Middle Ages. One convenience is an annotated list of English-language translations of French chansons de geste, in which the author’s publications feature prominently. Finally, the translator’s preface, introductions and a glossary round out the volume.

As may be inferred from the above description, Newth’s primary purpose is mainly pedagogical, or at least practical. The anthologized texts are arranged into three sections titled ‘Saracen Sirens,’ ‘Bartered Brides,’ and ‘Martyred Minds.’ Under these banners, the narratives stand mostly on their own. Newth provides only brief introductions to both the volume and these three stages in its implicit narrative. These prefacing remarks are of the most general order, and many will find them noticeably dated or tendentious. One might also note that their lessons frequently rely on a kind of reflexive comparison to the Chanson de Roland. Professors who adopt Newth’s translations are likely to find supplementary secondary readings a desirable counterpoint, especially in more advanced classes. With that caveat, the translations provided here bring a welcome infusion of fresh materials to the teaching of medieval French literature. The verse translations themselves are for the most part lively, easy to read, and—in keeping with the translator’s intent (ix)—resonant with effects of ‘assonance, rhyme and rhythm’ (xii) that will allow the modern reader to hear the words on the page declaimed inwardly as if aloud. Numbered and titled section headers of the translator’s devise usefully complement the numbering of verses within each chanson.

There is, however, one point on which I wish that scholarly best practices might have influenced Newth’s good intentions. In the Song of Floovant, nine-pages of published text have been supplied by the author’s ‘attempt to reconstruct the tone and content of a narrative episode known to be missing from the only edited manuscript of the poem’ (10).