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  • Representing the Dead: Epitaph Fictions in Late-Medieval France by Helen J. Swift
  • Janet Hadley Williams
Swift, Helen J., Representing the Dead: Epitaph Fictions in Late-Medieval France (Gallica), Cambridge, D. S. Brewer, 2016; hardback; pp. 354; 5 colour, 21 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. £75.00; ISBN 9781843844365.

The introduction to Representing the Dead is a valuable resource in itself. There, Helen Swift defines the terms, and discusses the literary epitaph's use of language and versification, audience involvement, and, among much else, its differences from, and relationships with, elegy, testament, complaint, and plainte funèbre. Swift refers to late medieval French writing, including that of André de La Vigne, Jean Molinet, Octavien de Saint-Gelais, Jean Lemaire, Alain Chartier, and François Villon, with meticulous translations. But her study is not chronologically or linguistically narrow, and for instance she cites Christos Tsagalis on the uses of the 'short obituary' in the Iliad. Her findings, which take into account recent scholarship and critical theory, are of great use for all scholars interested in the relationship between identity (name, renown, reputation) and death as both threat to identity and 'condition for its creation' (p. 4).

Four following chapters are equally rich. Chapter 1 examines 'the smallest units of epitaphic utterance: "je suis" and "cy gist"', not just as introductory formulae but as elements 'contributing to the framing of identity as a play of presence and absence' (p. 33). Chapter 2 takes the particular example of the Belle Dame querelle to extend and deepen the working out of the first chapter's discussions. Chapter 3 looks at the negative exempla provided by Boccaccio's De casibus virorum illustrium, and what impact they had on later French writers. Swift deftly questions the status of those who, as ambulant dead, address the author-persona. Chapter 4 considers literary representation of architectural frameworks—cemeteries, hospitals, temples/palaces—and how the dead are located in various ways; cemeteries, for example, becoming libraries housing both the dead and the living. An Afterword considers epitaph fictions as and with visual depictions, an apposite selection of illustrations accompanying. A brief Coda distills results.

The setting out of the volume is mostly helpful. Each chapter is in digestible but inter-related segments. Footnote references throughout provide a wealth of support to the text, with rare errors (the Introduction's note 42 reads 'Modern Language Review, 81.1' instead of '81.4'). Both Bibliography and Index are ordered, slightly offputtingly, in part by 'the convention of listing medieval authors alphabetically according to their first name' (p. 308), and part by the modern convention; thus, 'Chastelain' appears under 'George' (although he is 'Chastelain' in the text), yet we read 'Beckett, Samuel'. Those looking for 'Boccaccio' are assisted to 'Giovanni', but cross references are too few. [End Page 223]

Janet Hadley Williams
The Australian National University
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