Marcabru, "Dire vos vuoill ses doptanssa" (BdT 293.18)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reflect on a ‘borderline’ textual typology, well represented by this vers by Marcabru, which is the ‘reworking’ or ‘rewriting’ of a text. Manuscript C includes an alternative version of the text, thanks to numerous indifferent variants and to the insertion of a series of coblas unique to this songbook. Moreover, this occurs within the context of a complex tradition, which features important alterations in the order of the stanzas in the manuscripts copied in Languedoc and in a. We will try to propose a new key to the interpretation of these cases of alteration, ascribing them to an oral process that can ultimately be traced back to the role of the jongleurs. The existence of this process and its later incorporation into the written tradition suggest the need for an approach to troubadour poetry that goes beyond the old dualistic distinction between oral and written tradition.

Keywords

• Old Occitan
• Troubadour Lyric
• Marcabru