Partonopeus de Blois: Romance in the Making by Penny Eley (review)

Reviews 225 Eley, Penny. Partonopeus de Blois: Romance in the Making. Cambridge: Brewer, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84384-274-3. Pp. 260. $99. Partonopeus de Blois has often been overlooked by scholars, eclipsed by betterknown Old French romances. Fortunately, Eley’s rich study goes far to remedy this critical neglect. Eley begins by providing an overview of the manuscripts and editions of Partonopeus, surveying the main critical works, and highlighting the poet’s innovations . The latter become particularly important given Eley’s persuasive contention that the earliest version of Partonopeus dates to approximately 1170—thereby preceding the tales of Chrétien de Troyes and playing a foundational role for romance. The book’s first half focuses on key themes. Eley examines characters notable for their youth or advanced age in the first chapter. She posits that the pairing of the young hero with an older woman results from the fusion of the models of a lai and dynastic romance. At first, Partonopeus must be too young for marriage. As the tale progresses, the hero ages while his lady functionally regresses, creating the impression that they are the same age; narrative requirements similarly dictate the age of other characters. In the second chapter, Eley analyzes three instances in which a fils à vilain plays a crucial role, drawing out a political subtext and revealing how the romance’s treatment of the theme reflects concerns of the knightly classes during the period. The role of animals is at the heart of chapter three. Besides studying the ways in which the Partonopeus poet transformed sequences from Le roman de Thèbes, Eley looks closely at animal imagery to determine which parts of the first section of the Continuation were interpolations , proposing as well that Walter Map—author of De nugis curialium—was directly involved in the Continuation. The final three chapters consider issues related to structure and patronage. Eley devotes one chapter to Anselot’s story in the Continuation , since its features encapsulate the whole tale’s experimental approach. She posits that the poet of the original romance also composed Anselot’s story, perhaps initially intending it to become part of a separate narrative. Viewing the story as too complex for its 600 lines, Eley intriguingly speculates that Chrétien de Troyes corrected the model’s weaknesses in Yvain. Next, Eley investigates closure, asking if the continued version comes to any real end. Eley provides possible historical and political reasons for resurrecting the figure of the Sultan in the Continuation and looks at how interpolations modified the tale. Finally, Eley turns her attention to the poets responsible for the original romance and the Continuation, reflecting on how the work evolved over time. She continues her emphasis on the historical and political context, which also grounds her scenario of the chronology of the tale’s seven ‘editions.’ Eley asserts that the narrator’s beloved was likely a stand-in for a patroness and believes that both a patron and a patroness—most probably Thibaut V of Blois and his wife (and youngest daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII) Alix—played a role in the original romance’s composition. After a brief conclusion, appendices present information on editions and manuscripts as well as a plot synopsis. Eley’s well-written, thought-provoking study is of particular value to scholars of twelfth-century romance and to those interested in the genre’s development. While it may occasionally be difficult for someone unfamiliar with the tale to keep track of whether the discussion pertains to the main body of the romance or the Continuation, the work is very accessible to those discovering Partonopeus and to those who know it well. We are indebted to Eley for helping to bring the tale out of the shadow of Chrétien de Troyes and for opening new avenues of inquiry, offering an important contribution to scholarship that, like the romance itself, is always in the making. Saint Joseph’s University (PA) Kristin L. Burr Foglia, Marc. Montaigne: de l’interprétation. Paris: Kimé, 2011. ISBN 978-2-84174565 -4. Pp. 152. 18 a. In this concise monograph, designed primarily for non-specialists of Montaigne (or the Renaissance), Foglia focuses...