Marcabru: A Critical Edition

Medium Aevum, Fall, 2002 by Peter T. Ricketts

ed. Simon Gaunt, Ruth Harvey, and Linda Paterson, with John Marshall as philological adviser, and with the assistance of Melanie Florence (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2000), xi 609 pp. ISBN 0-85991-574-3. 95.00 [pounds sterling].

The number of scholars involved in this edition of the most difficult and abstruse of the Occitan troubadours is a mark of the nature of the task involved. The names of this British team are well known through their work in general and, in particular, for the spin-offs published separately or, occasionally, in collaboration.

To say that the edition is welcome is, therefore, to be assumed. Dejeanne's edition, published after his death, in 1909, was the only means of studying this troubadour, whose predilection for trobar clus renders him at times impenetrable, even now. Various scholars had, from time to time, turned to individual poems, notably the great Italian scholar Aurelio Roncaglia, whose editions of a batch of Marcabru's poems gave food for thought and showed the path that others should follow in his attention to the refined verse of the troubadour. His recent death, preceded by many years when he was unable to give the necessary attention to the completion of his critical edition, has robbed us of an opportunity to consult what is surely there in unpublished form.

This is not to say, however, that the present edition is in any way reduced to being a replacement which does not bear comparison with what had been published by Roncaglia. The result is different, of course, but the first impression (and it will take many hours of study to appreciate fully the wealth of information contained therein) is that of a bold and original approach to Marcabru. For too long, he was read through the Dejeanne filter, and the individual editions of a handful of scholars were necessarily tentative. The only way was to take on the whole canon in order for some light to be shed on the poet. There are necessarily risks in the approach adopted by this team of scholars. For example, while it would be difficult for the edition of an individual poem to be the work of all three, there are differences between the approach adopted according to which member was responsible for the particular text. This could, of course, be ascribed to the nature of each of the texts, and it is true to say that the overall principles set out in the introduction have been adhered to by all the editors. The task of editing the forty-four poems, which bristle with difficulties, is an unenviable one, and the overall judgement must be that of a solid piece of work which is going to stand the test of time. It will be mulled over and it will be criticized but the outstanding virtue of this work is that one can look at all the evidence, both at the level of the manuscripts and at that of the scholarship in terms of studies and commentaries.

The introduction deals with the name of Marcabru, his life and poetic career; there is a listing of the chansonniers, a study of language and versification, and the text of the vida. The editions themselves follow a traditional pattern, although it would have made sense to discuss the relationships between the manuscripts at the level of each poem, whatever study is undertaken in the introduction. The text is accompanied by a critical apparatus, a translation, and a full commentary of literary and linguistic cruces. The order adopted for the poems is that of Pillet-Carstens and Dejeanne. While this has the advantage of making comparisons with Dejeanne's edition and also referring to earlier works which quote from the poems, it is a pity that there is no attempt to categorize according to either themes or chronology (in so far as the poems are datable). There are some errors of detail: p. v, Povl, not Pavl, Skarup; p. 33, Romance, not romance, language; p. 37, E n'Aldrics, not E n Aldrics (given e n'Ucs, p. 56, 1. 26); p. 105, Gouiran, not Gouirian; p. 194, lines 53-4, espresc(a) is not in the glossary: see under espereiser, espreiser, p. 576, in spite of the correct form, Peire d'Alvernhe, appearing in the bibliography, the troubadour is named as Peire d'Alvernha in the text; p. 589, under Perugi, Valchiusa, not Valchuisa.

One final remark: this is a handsome edition and it is clear that much effort was expended by the editors and also by Boydell & Brewer to bring this about. However, under `Acknowledgements', the editors thank the publishers for `their courage and good will in accepting such a large and difficult undertaking', while previously, they express their gratitude to a long list of bodies and institutions for providing subsidies `towards the costs of publication'. While one can appreciate the publishers' goodwill, it is less clear why the book costs so much. This is a book which academics should have, but they will have to think twice before they spend part of a salary which, in most countries, is going down in real terms, and they may reflect on the policy of this publisher and some others.