The Nouvelles of Philippe de Vigneulles [thesis]

222 Pages·1974·10.54 MB·English

by  Armine Avakian Kotin

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75-15,320
KOTIN, Armine Avakian, 1943-
THE NOUVELLES OF PHILIPPE DE VIGNEULLES.
Yale University, Ph.D., 1974
Language and Literature, modern
Xerox University Microfilms,
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED.
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The Nouvelles of Philippe de Vigneulles
A Dissertation
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
of
Yale University
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
by
Armine Avslcian Kotin
December 1974
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Abstract
The Nouvelles of Philippe de Vigneulles
Armine Avakian Kotin
Yale University 1974-
The recently published Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles by Phi­
lippe de Vigneulles (14-71-1528), cloth merchant of Metz and
author of a Chronique and a book of Memoires. is a collection
of tales in the tradition of the short comic narrative in
French. Some tales are absent or amputated due to the muti­
lation of the only extant manuscript.
The nouvelle as a genre, lacking a contemporary formal
theory, has been defined, etymologically and pragmatically,
as the telling of something new; compositionally, as a short
tale presenting a situation which results in an unexpected
outcome; esthetically, as a realistic form. The Italian no­
vella. the facetia, exemplum, lai, and fabliau all contribu­
ted to its development.
Philippe's prologues enlist the benevolent attention of
the reader and provide an argument of authority, a modesty
clause, a substantive introduction of the nouvelle. and a
moral justification. His use of the term nouvelle is both
as a pragmatic event and as a literary form; the meaning of
nouvelle as new event is retained in the use of the term as
a genre. Traditional elements are important and place the
nouvelles in the greater genre called by Tiemann the Kurzer-
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z ah lung;»
Two sequential models based on the sequence of events
in each tale are abstracted from two basic types of narra­
tive , one about foolish events and the other about clever
events. Variations include repetition of all or part of the
models and accentuation of any part. Narrative logic can be
linear, circular, additive or alternative. Eleven thematic
categories are described based on variations of the models.
The outcome of the foolishness tales, a revelation, and the
outcome of the cleverness tales, an uncontrolled situation,
are homologous. The models theoretically describe the unity
of the work.
The purpose of the work is twofold: to amuse and to
instruct. Modalities governing the comic outcome include
knowledge, power- pretense, and desire. Attributes of the
characters determine or are determined by the sequence of
events. Laughter is present in the tales as a model for the
reader's laughter, but also serves various social functions.
Morals are important and take many forms, including implicit
morals. The interrelation of both aspects is particularly
evident in erotic and scatological tales, which show that
immorality can be laughed at, and that laughter is the ulti­
mate purpose of the work.
An explicit claim to truth and reality, evident also in
compositional techniques, is supported by four factors of
concreteness (historical events, social customs, occupations,
and physical aspects of daily life) which provide a back­
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ground of social realism. The accumulation of detail in the
description of events and psychological realism actualize
the narration and serve to persuade the reader of a realism
whose referent is not factual events but a literary tradi­
tion of realism.
The style of the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles is original;
other aspects of originality are the Metz local color, the
strong presence of the author, the bourgeois values of the
work, and the '’running frame." Not a humanistic work, the
Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles reaffirms and strengthens the young
genre of the French nouvelle.
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Contents
Page
Introduction 1
Chapter 1. Definitions and Origins of the
French Nouvelle 6
Definitions 6
Origins 19
Literary Sources 19
From Verse to Prose 27
Non-literary Sources 28
Social Origins 29
Chapter 2. The Nouvelle as Defined by Philippe
de Vigneulles: Prologues and Tradition 32
Prologues 32
Tradition 43
Chapter 3» Sequential Models 62
Observations 69
Variations 69
Chapter 4. Amusement or Instruction? The
T T lf i w o f f t Q Q
V V A IIIUL W A V*-L VWV/ y u
Laughter and Comedy 98
Knowledge 98
Power 102
4-^ -1 f\~I
x ic v /cu o q x v j
Desire 106
Attributes 109
Morals 115
Obscenity 122
ii
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iii
Chapter 5» Realism 131
Claim to Truth and Reality 132
Compositional Factors 135
Concreteness 13Q
Psychological Realism 146
Conclusion 156
Notes I73
Short Title List 194-
List of Works Consulted 197
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Introduction
One of the more pleasant products of recent scholarly
editing is the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles of Philippe de Vi­
gneulles (1471-1528), cloth merchant and hosier of Metz.^
Not to be confused with the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles of the
fifteenth century (c. 1460), the collection is an amusing
compendium of tales in the tradition of the short comic nar-
p
rative of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Prance.
Philippe de Vigneulles is better known as the author of a
Chronicue* and his other major work, a book of M&moires,
and several poems and a translation into modern French of
the chanson de geste Garin le Loherain complete his written
3
opus. Much is known about Philippe de Vigneulles' life,
due largely to his own narration of it in the M&moires and
the Chronique. Born of a peasant family in Vigneulles, a
small town outside of Metz, he became a resident of Metz of
some status and was a successful businessman. His youthful
flight which eventually took him to Italy (1486-1489) prob­
ably introduced him to the Decameron and the Facetiae of
Poggio, and it was in 1505 during a serious illness that he
began to compose his own collection of facetious tale3. The
year 1515 in the Chronique and the Memoires refers to the
completion of the nouvelles, although some ten additional
tales were composed at a later time and appended to the col­
lection. The work was never published during his lifetime,
1
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perhaps never intended for publication, and may have been
used for reading aloud to a Metz public. At least two manu­
scripts existed at one time.
Without entering into detail, a brief description of
h.
the only extant manuscript is necessary. Lacking the first
page of the prologue, the manuscript has been severely mu­
tilated, resulting in the absence of 6 of the original 100
tales, the near-absence of 5 others (amputated to the extent
that they are incomprehensible), and the incompletion of
many others: 4 are lacking only the title, 19 the beginning,
7 the beginning and the end, 13 only the end. Of the addi­
tional 10 tales, only no. 110 has survived, glued to the
inside of the back cover of the manuscriptDue to the
bad condition of the paper, 5 of the original 100 are missing
some part of the middle.
The absence of a title raises the problem of dust what
that title was. Nowhere in Philippe de Vigneulles' writings
£
does the title Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles appear. A different
title can be found in both the Chronique and the Mlmoires:
at the date of 1515 in the Chronique, IV, 198, Phi­
lippe says he composed "ung aultre livre contenant cenc
novelles ou contes joieulx," and in the Mlmoires, p. 283,
he mentions "ung livre contenant cent nowelles ou contes
doieulx." The presence of the same title in the prologue
to the 62nd tale ("et pour multiplier le nombre des centz
nouvelles ou compte doieux") suggests that this was perhaps
the intended title. It has the advantage of referring to
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