CLOTHING "DAME HELISENNE": THE STAGING OF FEMALE AUTHORSHIP AND THE PRODUCTION OF THE 1538 ANGOYSSES DOULOUREUSES QUI PROCEDENT D'AMOURS

Romanic Review, Nov 2001 by Chang, Leah L

As each of the first three title pages introduces a new part of the narrative, each also begins an entirely new set of page gatherings and groups (identified by the "A" - "K," "AA" - "MM," and "AAA" - "HHH" signatures). These patterns indicate that in their typographical forms, the three parts were conceived of as entirely separate "books" from each other; I have wondered whether they were each meant to be sold individually.26 Nevertheless, the page signatures indicate that the fourth title page was printed alongside the last part of the text that is narrated in Guenelic's voice.27 The presence of this fourth title page hints that the book's producers were playing with meaning conveyed by material form, using a title page to mark a transition in the authorial figure to Quezinstra from Dame Helisenne (whose shift into Guenelic's voice had already been marked by the second and third title pages).

However, it is the text on the first three title pages that especially complicates their role in the construction of the authorial figure. The title on the first runs as follows: "Les Angoysses Douloureuses Qui Procedent D'Amours: Contentatz troys parties, Composees par Dame Helisenne: Laquelle exhorte toutes personnes a ne suyvre folle Amour" (Fig. 1). The title clearly specifies that "Dame Helisenne" has composed the work: nowhere does the name "Helisenne de Crenne" appear on the page. Nevertheless, on the second title page, an enlarged, printed De Crenne appears in place of the publishing information of the first title page, disjointed from the rest of the page by its obtrusive type size (Fig. 2). Its overwhelming size ensures that the reader does not miss it, and almost seems designed to shock; certainly, its looming presence on the second title pages underscores its absence on the first. The third title page also contains a "De Crenne," printed and laid out on the page in a similar fashion to that of the preceding title page. Moreover, a smaller "De Crenne" - in a type size compatible with the font used to print the actual story - surfaces at the end of the first part of the book, just before Janot's colophon giving rhe publication information. A similarly sized "De Crenne" reappears at the end of the second Partie, this time following another Janot colophon and printer's mark. There is no "De Crenne" figure at the end of the third Partie.

Who, then, is "De Crenne," and how does the figure function at the end of the Parties and on the ancillary title pages? Does "De Crenne" necessarily represent a female, authorial persona, especially if, as most modern critics assume, it is the married name of the supposed author Marguerite Briet, and therefore a masculine gendered patronymic? In fact, these questions are never explicitly answered in the 1538 volume. The tendency of these critics to overlook the fact that "De Crenne" never actually sits juxtaposed to "Dame Helisenne" is due, I believe, to the assumption that "Helisenne de Crenne" is the full name of the author and that the two names must necessarily signify one person. But in truth the "De Crenne" figures float by themselves on the pages on which they appear, separated from other text by punctuation and on the title pages by font size. The narrative quality of the titles further contributes to the sense that "De Crenne" and "Dame Helisenne" are two distinct entities. For example, who is it that tells the reader that the third part is "Composee par Dame Helisenne parlant en la personne de son Amy Guenelic: Comprenant la mort de ladicte Dame, apres avoir este retrouvee par ledict Guenlic son amy"? Is it Dame Helisenne who speaks? The printer, Denys Janot? Or perhaps the ambiguously gendered "De Crenne"?