Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages by Jacques Le Goff (review)

From Merlin to Men in Tights, esteemed medievalist Jacques Le Goff's Heroes and Marvels of the Middle Ages is an insightful and resourceful chronicle of the histories of the medieval imaginary's most famous avatars. Capably translated from the original French by Teresa Lavender Fagan, Heroes and Marvels utilizes the long-term lens of Le Goff's second-generation Annales school to discuss the historical evolution of these avatars with both brevity and depth. In his introduction, Le Goff deftly lays a definitive framework for an exploration of the medieval imaginary, referencing Evelyne Patlagean's work in addition to his own in order to establish a sturdy foundation for a sampling of the imaginary's longstanding occupants. The book's heroes include Arthur, Charlemagne, El Cid, The Jongleur, Knights, Melusina, Merlin, Pope Joan, Reynard, Robin Hood, Roland, The Troubadour, The Unicorn, The Valkyrie, and Tristan and Iseult; the marvels comprise The Castle, The Cathedral, The Cloister, and The Land of Cockaigne. Each figure is allotted an episodic chapter complete with explorations of origins, mentions of related works, and a chronological explication of the figure's history as a member of the medieval imaginary. Accompanying photographs contribute to the holistic nature of Le Goff's presentation: visuals of medieval cathedrals and movie posters dovetail nicely with philological asides and observations of general trends in characterization. This sensible format allows Le Goff to efficiently and comprehensively sample a vast canon of medieval research. His work functions dually as reading and reference material; scholars will find in it a rich resource of characters, works, and architecture embellished with summative one-liners ripe for integration into a vast litany of potential papers.

In Heroes and Marvels, Le Goff navigates the intersections of reality and fantasy throughout the medieval mythos, laying out information in a manner that is straightforward, engrossing, and easy to follow. Among the titular avatars are historical figures supplanted by fiction, fictitious characters grounded in history, and longstanding religious structure-inspired ideals. The book's one-off chapters accompany figures from the Middle Ages on their journeys from the historical canon to the cultural zeitgeist. Le Goff's work focuses on the births and rebirths of these subjects and the insights they provide, emphasizing the development of their images over time over their original position in reality. Reoccurring elements include discussions of the philology behind person and place names, descriptions of Romanticism-catalyzed metamorphoses, and examinations of the social symbolism of the figures' many representations.

Though Heroes and Marvels is more of an illustration of cultural longevity than argumentative by nature, Le Goff's observations furnish a few theses. At the core of the work are themes of connection and intersection: in addition to relating the past to the present, many of the figures discussed embody the gray areas of medieval binaries, modeling the many dualities that captivated medieval storytellers and audiences alike. Le Goff's chosen avatars occupy spaces between good and evil, paganism and piety, nature and culture, man and magic. His presentation of the original iterations of these characters alongside their Romanticism-fueled makeovers and modern manifestations furnishes insight not only into the thoughts, concerns, and preoccupations of medieval cultures but also into those of the cultures that followed. The book's multilayered portrayals allow for a parsing of the sociological implications of the qualities of the medieval imagination that have withstood the test of time.

Le Goff's familiarity with and attentiveness to the subject matter makes for an engaging foray into the field and a fun read for first-time readers of medieval material and familiarized scholars alike. A primer on medieval figures with enough reference information to guide researchers in deeply informative directions, Heroes and Marvels functions as a survey of timeless medieval achievements and as a commemoration of the living impact of medieval culture on the present. It is a work of history and of affinity, and its curricular charm enables a reading experience...