La légende d'Alexandre le Grand dans la littérature française du 12e siècle: Une réécriture permanente (review)

Short Notices 289 seventeenth century, indicating the veracity of Dekker and others' representation of it. Herein lies m y concern: that Kinney treats The Witch of Edmonton merely as a social document and not enough as a play designed to entertain and attract a heterogenous audience. Despite this, the introduction does include an intriguing but brief stage history particularly highlighting stage representations of the Witch and Dog. Kinney's lucid discussion of witchcraft and the phenomena of 'unassimilable women' is suggestive and well supported in the 'Further Reading' list which accompanies the introduction. Indeed the reading l i s t is an excellent resource, listing both standard general texts and very recent criticism related to particular aspects of the play. The N e w Mermaids edition of The Witch of Edmonton succeeds as a very useful encounter with a fascinating play. Susan Penberthy Department of English The University of Western Australia Gosman, Martin, La legende d'Alexandre le Grand dans la litterature frangaise du Tie siecle: Une reecriture permanente (Faux Titre 133) Amsterdam, Rodopi, 1997; paper; pp. 394; R.R.P. Hfl.60.00, US$31.50. With one pending and 25 definite publications on the topic between 1978 and 1997, Martin Gosman has obviously spent a considerable amount of scholarly time on the study of the medieval French versions of Alexander the Great. There is a loose 'Avant-propos' inserted in the book which gives details of the author's purpose. As he points out, the l i f e ofAlexander has been used with different interpretations. For some, he was the epitome of kingship w h o m other rulers should emulate; for others, his hubris and arrogance m a d e him the model of behaviour to be avoided. Given that the story of.Alexander was so popular and that there were so m a n y adaptations, creating what the author has called 'un conglomerat de textes inextricable', G o s m a n has carefully delineated the boundaries of this study. H e has been careful to emphasise that this study involves texts only of the twelfth century, namely, the text of Alberic at the beginning 290 Short Notices of the century, the Alexandre decasyllabique, the Fuerre de Gadres, the Alexandre en Orient by Lambert le Tort, the Mort Alixandre, versions from the manuscripts in the Arsenal and Venice, the Roman de toute Chevalerie attributed to Thomas of Kent, the Venjance Alixandre of Jehan de Nevelon and the Roman d'Alexandre. H e identifies those parts of the book that have not already been exposed to critical analysis. Of those, the most useful part is Chapter Two, entitled 'La legende', which chronicles the historical events with a chronology of versions and a comparative table of episodes in the various versions. This is the section of the book most likely to be consulted by scholars wishing to place the texts in their hierarchy. The author situates these texts firmly in an epic tradition, rather than that of romance, and posits a late date for the Roman d'Alexandre, which he places after the appearance of most of Chretien's romances, at 1184-85. This implies that Chretien influenced the writer of the Roman d'Alexandre and not vice versa. Moreover, unlike the other three romances identified as the romans d'antiquite, the account of the life of Alexander is late to the romance tradition and is therefore likely to have been influenced by those which precede it. The font of the book is generous, and there are copious footnotes. A surprise is the format of the bibliography where the authors' names are given prominence on the left-hand margin, with the date of each publication below and the details of the title and place of publication. Margaret Burrell Department of French University of Canterbury Lillich, Meredith Parsons, The Queen of Sicily and Gothic Stained Gl Mussy and Tonnerre (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 88, Part 3), Philadelphia, 1998; paper; pp. x, 131; 55 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. US$20.00. There is always a suspenseful quality to Meredith Parsons Lillich's writing, as she presents her artistic research in the manner of...