UNE MYTHOCRITIQUE DE LA CHANSON DE GUILLAUME EST-ELLE POSSIBLE ? DU VISIBLE À L’INVISIBLE DANS LA GESTE DE GUILLAUME D’ORANGE ET DE SES COMPAGNONS DE GUERRE (Is The Song of William susceptible to myth criticism? From the visible to the invisible in the Old French epic of William of Orange and his companions in arms)

Abstract

The main aim of the present study is to examine the appropriateness of myth criticism methods in the context of medieval French literature. The first part of the essay is conceived as a brief confrontation, opposing the theory of Mircea Eliade concerning the repetition of the Hero Archetype in traditional epics to some textual elements in the chansons de geste, analogous to “visible mythemes” which tend to appear in popular epic poetry. Through a series of comparisons, we come to the conclusion that the interpretation to which the “eliadian” scheme leads us expands the boundaries of a literary myth (an academic invisible) and rather aspires to a “theology of text” (a lived invisible). The second part of the article provides the reader with a practical application of the results of the preceding reflections, and includes an interpretation of the story of Vivien based on the Christian concept of Imitatio Christi.

Keywords

• medieval French literature
• Old French heroic epic
• myth criticism
• invisible and visible in a literary text
• Chanson de Guillaume (Song of William)
• Imitatio Christi