Xavier Galmiche
Modification / Reduction /Trivialisation: Czech Editions and Adaptations ofFrench Medieval Legend of Beautiful Maguelonne in the 19th and 20th centuries
Alena Kotšmídová? has recently defended her doctoral thesis on the original French legend Pierre de Provence et la belle Maguelonne from the 16th century (with numerous editions since 1485) on its German translation (Die sch?ne Magelone. Aus dem Franz?sischen u?bersetzt von Veit Warbeck, 1527) and then the Czech translation (Welmi vtěssen? a kratochwjln? Hystorye / O Kr?sn? Panně Mageloně dceři krále z Neapolis, probably from the last quarter of the 16th century). We know it from an incomplete edition of 1741 and especially from the complete version
of 1780. She subjects the three texts to a meticulous comparison and comments on them as an example of an accomplished cultural transfer to the readership of the Lutheran confession, made possible by a certain poetic "simplification". The author of this paper starts from the thesis that, unlike many "Baroque" adventure stories,
the legend of Maguelonne was characterized by a certain absence of supernatural elements. Its classical character is confirmed by the successful dissemination of the text, without major interventions being made in it. He also examines whether we can detect signs of a certain interpretative populism in the treatment of the text by
publishers (title and typographical changes), booksellers and readers. He approaches such interpretation hypotethically as part of the "popularisation" of medieval and
humanist texts originally written for the needs of aristocratic circles.
Keywords: Maguelonne – Melusina – books of folk reading (Volksbu?cher) – cultural transfers – legend
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