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Neophilologus (2011) 95:2749
DOI 10.1007/s11061-010-9198-0
Christophe Chaguinian
Published online: 18 February 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract For a long time, students of the Chanson de RolandG. Paris, G. Lanson,E. Faral, P. Le Gentil, G. Moignet, to name a fewhave indicated that the work is highly visual, and that the reader has the impression of seeing the actions being described. In other words, the Chanson is an excellent example of the gure of speech classical rhetoricians call hypotyposis, a lively description used for creating the illusion of reality. Unfortunately the aforementioned scholars have not explained which stylistic devices produce such an effect in the Chanson (and neither have the rhetoricians who dened the trope). The goal of this article is to take stock of these various means: concrete vocabulary, neutral narration, paratactic construction, use of the present tense, montage etc., all of which contribute to rendering this composition highly visual. The analysis makes use of data produced by cognitive psychologists who study contexts in which verbal information lends itself to visualization. An unexpected consequence of the analysis of the Chanson de Roland from this perspective is the revelation of its stylistic modernity, since scholars associate the birth of the modern novel, in the 19th century, with the generalization of such techniques.
Keywords Chanson de Roland Chanson de geste Hypotyposis
Modernity Visualization Style
C. Chaguinian (&)
University of North Texas, Foreign Languages and Literatures, 1155 Union Circle 311127, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Present Address:C. Chaguinian3024 Broken Bow Str., Denton, TX 76209, USA
Ut pictura poesis: le cas de La Chanson de Roland
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Introduction
Dans les dcennies qui ont suivi la publication, en 1837, de La Chanson de Roland, lintrt des critiques pour luvre a t avant tout archologique, non esthtique. Forms dans le respect des classiques, ses premiers lecteurs nont gure apprci lart du Roland.
Les propos de Ferdinand Brunetire en 1879 sont assez reprsentatifs. Pour lui le pome est dfectueux sur tous les plans: la langue est dure, dure loreille, dure la gorge (Brunetire, 17), le pome est assez mal compos (idem, 23), et les personnages coups dans la mme toffe: les Olivier et les Turpin de France ny diffrent que par le nom des Estorgant et des...