The Lays of Marie de France - Athabasca University Press

1 The lays of Marie de Francemingling voicesSeries editor: Manijeh MannaniGive us wholeness, for we are who are we asking, and why do we ask? Phyllis WebbNational in scope, Mingling Voices draws on the work of both new and established poets, novelists, and writers of short stories. The series especially, but not exclusively, aims to promote authors who challenge traditions and cultural stereotypes. It is designed to reach a wide variety of readers, both generalists and specialists. Mingling Voices is also open to literar y works that delineate the immigrant experience in TitlesPoems for a Small Park E. D. BlodgettDreamwork Jonathan Locke HartWindfall Apples: Tanka and Kyoka Richard StevensonThe dust of just beginning Don KerrRoy & Me: This Is Not a Memoir Maurice YacowarZeus and the Giant Iced Tea Leopold McGinnisPraha E.

2 D. BlodgettMusing Jonathan Locke HartDustship Glory Andreas SchroederThe Kindness Colder Than the Elements Charles NobleThe Metabolism of Desire: The Poetry of Guido Cavalcanti Translated by David R. Slavittkiy m Naomi McIlwraithSefer Ewa Lipska, translated by Barbara Bogoczek and Tony HowardThe lays of Marie de France Translated by David R. Slavitttranslated byDavid R. SlavittCopyright 2013 David R. SlavittPublished by AU Press , Athabasca University1200, 10011 109 Street, Edmonton, ab t5j 3s8978-1-927356-35-7 (paper) 978-1-927356-36-4 (pdf) 978-1-927356-37-1 (epub)A volume in Mingling 1917-9405 (print) 1917-9413 (digital)Cover and interior design by Natalie Olsen, Kisscut and bound in Canada by Marquis Book y and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Marie , de France , 12th cent.

3 [Lais. English] The lays of Marie de France / translated by David R. Slavitt. (Mingling voices, 1917-9405 ; 14) Translated from the Old French. Issued also in electronic formats. isbn 978-1-927356-35-7 1. Marie , de France , 12th cent. Translations into English. 2. lays Translations into English. i. Slavitt, David R., 1935 ii. Title. : Lais. English. iv. Series: Mingling voices ; 14 2013 841'.1 c2013-901114-5We acknowledge the f inancial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (cbf) for our publishing provided by the Government of Alberta, Alberta Multi- media Development publication is licensed under a Creative Commons licence, Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works Canada: see The text may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that credit is given to the original obtain permission for uses beyond those outlined in the Creative Commons licence, please contact AU Press , Athabasca University , at JanetContentsForeword.

4 IxThe lays of Marie de FrancePrologue .. 3iGuigemar .. 5iieq uitan .. 27iiiLe fresne .. 35ivBisclavret .. 47vLanval .. 55viThe Two Lovers .. 71viiYonec .. 77viiiLa stic .. 89ixMilun .. 93xchaitivel .. 105xichevrefoil .. 111xiieliduc .. 115 For Further Reading .. 147 The lays of Marie de France 713-09-27 11:41 AMixForewordMarie who? A number of suggestions have been proposed for the identity of this wonderful twelfth-century poet. Marie , Abbess of Shaftesbury, the illegitimate daughter of Geoffrey Plantagenet and half-sister to Henry II, King of England, is a plausible candidate, but Marie , Abbess of Reading, Marie I of Boulogne, Marie , Abbess of Barking, and Marie de Meulan, wife of Hugh Talbot, are all possibilities.

5 There were a lot of Maries, after all, but only a few who could read and write in English, Latin, and Anglo-Norman French. It is not inappropriate, however, for her to be a bit mysterious and even emblematic as the author of these strange, suggestive, and intriguing poems. One important thing we do know about her is that she also translated the Ysopet, a collection of 103 Aesopic fables, which could have inf luenced the Lais but at least suggest something about her taste in literature. There is a fabulous quality to these poems, which are at one and the same time childish and very knowing, innocent and sophisticated. The order of the poems is different in different manuscripts of the Lais, and it may well be that Marie didn t write all of them but the ones she did write were good enough to have the others attributed to her, perhaps as an homage.

6 Or it could have been that a scribe threw in another two or three that he liked, xhad space for, and that looked to him to be similar. The unnamed king she addresses at the end of the prologue was almost certainly Henry II of England (r ul e d 1154 89), her half-brother assuming she was the Abbess of Shaftesbury. The Norman Conquest, for all its cruelty, brought European political and literary life to England. In the twelfth century, the French were producing chansons de geste, as well as love lyrics of the troubadours and trouv res and a number of religious and philosophical works from writers such as St. Bernard and Abelard. Marie any of these Maries would have been educated in France , almost certainly in a convent, and would have been familiar with most of these examples of the eff lorescence of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

7 These are courtly poems, which is to say that they fall within the tradition of sophisticated literature that requires an appropriate audience of the kind one generally f inds at courts of kings and noblemen. They are full of wit and elegance. If they pretend to be simple folktales, they rely on the capacity of their readers (or, more likely, hearers) to understand their ambiguity and richness. One might think of these poems as toys for adults, for they are decorous variations on themes from fairy tales and M rchen. Marie s subjects are the charms and diff iculties of love of various kinds and the way that goodness and wickedness are rewarded and punished in a complicated world.

8 But it would be a disservice to her and to the poems to try to extract a philosophical or political position from pieces that are, I think, written as entertainments and deliberately mixed in xiapproach and attitude. The form itself imposes certain constraints, for the lai is shorter than the romance, which means that love tends to strike suddenly so that we can concentrate on the crises of various kinds and the frequently surprising d nouements. Longer than a lyric, shorter than a chanson, the lai has its own natural domain to which Marie was particularly well suited. My intention in making this new translation was not to supply students in comp lit courses with yet another text (although I hope that even the reluctant readers among them may be surprised to discover that what they have been assigned is actually fun).

9 On the contrary, I saw in these lais an opportunity to show off, just as Marie was showing off. It was a challenge to try to reproduce the panache of the originals. I wanted to convey not only the sense of the poems but also, beyond the meat of meaning, the sizzle of the poetry which transcends time and place. If these pieces had been written this year by a Mary Francis from New London, they d be very much worth lays of Marie de France3 proLogu eIf one has received from God the greatgift of eloquence, it is his fateand duty to exercise and displaythese talents. If one would compose a layhe must speak or rather writeas well as he can for men s delightand appreciation.

10 The talent will f irstblossom in his company s thirstfor more and ever more of the people will hear of him: his namewill spread about him. In his pursuitof fame these blossoms will bloom, and fruitmay even appear in the form of booksin library shelves and tables and poets dare to be obscureto engage the scholars (although perhaps fewersimple readers). Priscian describeshow poets can dupe the scholarly tribesand by this contrarian endeavorcontrive for their works to live scholars glosses and citationsprovide them with harmless occupationsby which they avoid the rudenessesof the rough-and-tumble world that isthe lot of most. My original schemewas to f ind a Latin text that would seemto lend itself to a version in ourFrench and pass a pleasant others have done such things before4and I wanted to occupy myself with a moreworthwhile project.