Review: [untitled]

Author(s): John Gage Allee

Source: The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 85, No. 337 (Jul. - Sep., 1972), pp. 276-278
Published by: American Folklore Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/539504 .
Accessed: 10/06/2011 23:08

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BOOK REVIEWS

Medieval Literatureand Folklore

Index Exemplorum:A Handbookof MedievalTales.By FredericC. Tubach.(Helsinki:
SuomalainenTiedeakatemia,1969. Pp. 530. FF Communications,vol. 86, no. 204.
Fmk. 55.00)
This new, much-neededscholar'stool has been succinctlyand well describedby its
authorwho writes: "Thepresenthandbookof religioustales in the Middle Ages (Index
Exemplorum) offers the 5400 exempla found in the 37 centralcollectionsavailablein
modernprint in such a way as to make this vast store of imaginativeand religiousma-
terial accessibleto the folklorist, literaryand culturalhistorian and the historian of
religion" (p. 517).
The Index consistsof five sections: (i) a summarylisting of 5400 exempla in 400
pages; (2) a cross-referenceindex of io6 pages; (3) a one-page table showing that
nearly ioo of the exempla correspondto the Aarne-ThompsonFolktaletypes; (4) an
appendixcontaininga cogent introductionto the Index and the medievalreligioustale;
and (5) an appendixlisting the abbreviationsand sources,which servesas a most con-
venient bibliographyto medieval religious tales. The whole has been compiledwith a
thoroughnessand precisionworthy of the trainingand encouragementby the author's
mentor,ArcherTaylor,to whom ProfessorTubachgraciouslydedicatesthis book. This
compilation representsa successful solution of a task of enormousproportionsand
complexity.
Fromthe author'sintroductionone can see thatthe two majorquestionsthat had to be
answeredthroughoutthe task were: (i) what sourcesto include, and (2) how to pre-
sent the materialfrom thesesources.
In answerto the first questionTubachexcludedthe books that served "as sourcesfor
the medieval exemplum tradtion,such as the Vitae Patrum,Gregory'sDialogues, the
LegendaAurea, and Barlaamand Josaphat,and the medievalhandbooksof exempla"
(p. 520). On the other hand, he included and indexed the "mainmedievalcollections
proper," especially those of (or resting upon) Caesariusof Heisterbach,Jacquesde
Vitry, Etienne de Bourbon,and Odo de Cheriton.Tubach lists these collections (pp.
524-525) and discussesmost of them very briefly (pp. 521-525). However, from the
casualuser'spoint of view an annotatedlist of these thirty-sevencollectionsmight be an
improvement,not only becausethe abbreviationsof the collections may not be self-
evident until the list is carefullystudied, but also, more importantly,becauseit would
serveto achievemost easilythe author'simportantgoal of accentuatingthe geographical
and historicaldistributionof the exempla.But here we get into the secondproblem.
The questionof presentationis most complexbecause,as Tubachsays,at present"we
are placed between the broad, working definition of the motif in the sense of Stith
Thompsonand the developmentof highly differentiatedmorphologicalcriteriafor nar-
rative analysis encouragedby the writings of Vladimir Propp" (p. 519). Tubach's
solution is to present a list and avoid "a classificationaccordingto any elaborateset of
criteria"(p. 5 I7), althoughhe carefullynotes the "Correspondence with AaTh Tales"
BOOK REVIEWS 277

(see above). However, in order to make his list most useful, Tubach indexes "on the
pragmaticassumptionthat the most concreteact in an exemplum,the most memorable
event or the most clearly profiled actor or thing serves as an effective guide for the
scholar . . ." (p. 517). His very "detailedcross referenceindex makes any given ex-
emplum available from a variety of perspectives" (p. 517). Thus, he arrives at an
italicized descriptivelabel, which he follows with a summary.These summariesare
superbin their simplicityand clarity.It must indeed be an unusualreaderwho will not
find himself-almost beyondhis own purposes-drawn to readingand browsingfurther
thanhe intended.
However, despiteTubach'sexcellentspecificsummariesand the cross-referenceguide
there are the inevitableproblemsfor the scholarwho half remembersa story or who
rememberssome major point not included in Tubach'sthreefold pragmaticcriteria,or
who remembersthe concreteact or event in different"key"words. Further,of course,
the general categoryor concept may escape the researcher.For instance,he may find
"Paintingscannotbe seen by bastards"(#3577, chosen at random), but how does this
relate, for instance,to Chaucer'spardoner'sannouncedtrick that only the sinless can
buy his wares (i.e., StithThompson's#763), or the storyof the emperor'snew clothes,
and so on? In short, any very specificlisting cannot generally relate to larger themes
unless the researcherfinds the relatedspecificselsewhere.Although an emphasison the
well-known Stith Thompson motifs might "destroythe exemplum as recorded" (p.
5 17), still all but the most expert would probablyfind some system of larger classifi-
cationhelpful in finding analogues.Just as in a librarysystem,large categoriesneed not
be procrusteanto accommodatespecific examples. The solution to making such cate-
gories virtuallyuniversalwas not Tubach'stask in his superb Index, but nevertheless
someone now needs to provide a "key" to relate the various works-Tubach's, Stith
Thompson's,Keller'sMotif Index of MedievalSpanishExempla,and others.Tubach's
comprehensiveIndex makes this next step all the more inviting, for he has presented
the major details of all but the most complex exempla of his thirty-sevencollections.
However, by his own account,he had to simplify motifs in the very elaborateIslendsk
Aeventyri (p. 518). Even if no such "key"is forthcoming,someoneshould now follow
Tubach'smodel andgive us an index of the workshe had to exclude.
Although in my own use of the Index over the past few months I have found a few
general analoguesby using some imaginationand suggestionsfrom the Stith Thomp-
son headings, I have found that one can easily locate specifictypes or be assuredthat
these are not in the Index. For instance,one can quicklydeterminethat Chaucerdid not
use any of the exempla of the Index, whether one considersthe Wife of Bath's "lay
sermon,"the Senecanexempla in the Summoner'sTale, or the exemplumof the Par-
doner'sPrologue. Although the very fact that an artisthas chosen his exemplaoutside
Tubach'sthirty-sevensourcescan be revealing,until now few could hope to relate the
specificexemplaof a given writerto largersourcesunless some analogueor type here or
therehad alreadybeenpointedout.
As might be expected in a work of this comprehensiveness,minor misprintsoccur,
but I have not found the specificreferencessufferedthereby.For example,three types
of misprintsseemto occur: (I) misreadings-p. 35, "p." shouldno doubtbe "cf."; (2)
undeletedextrabits-p. 519 in fn. 2 the "ftn. I" shouldbe deleted; and (3) some few
orthographicslips-"collectonsi" for "collections"(p. 519), "is" for "in" (p. 522).
The amazingfact is thatso few misprintsoccurin so detaileda work.
278 BOOK REVIEWS

In summary,one would hope this Index would be shelved in everylibrarybeside the

ThompsonType and Motif indexes. The most casualreadersshould find the Index in-
viting to readand browsethrough,but the serioususer shouldbe willing to spend some
time becoming thoroughlyacquaintedwith the range and identity of the thirty-seven
collections.Eithertypeof readerwill be amplyrewardedfor his efforts.
The George WashingtonUniversity JOHN GAGEALLEE
Washington,D. C.

MedievalLiteratureand FolkloreStudies:Essaysin Honor of FrancisLee Utley. Edited

by JeromeMandel and Bruce A. Rosenberg. (New Brunswick:RutgersUniversity
Press,1970. Pp. viii + 408, preface,illustrations,index. $I7.50)
When askedto review a $17.50 festschriftthat would cover both medievalliterature
and folklore, I hastily offered my excuses. From reading similar undertakings,I en-
visioned a slow progressthrough tedious explicationsof little-knownauthorsand ob-
scure works. The Book Editor dispatched the volume anyway, my protestationsof
ignoranceand inadequacynotwithstanding,and I soon found that my assumptionswere
entirely wrong. The essays are imaginativeand comprehensive;all of the materialis
carefully indexed; and the book is most attractivelyprinted, containing even a large
quantityof relevantwoodcutsthat addsto the spiritof the articles.
The breadthand clarityof the contributionsare an appropriatetributeto the "onlie
begetter,"the well-knownmedievalistand folklorist FrancisLee Utley. Originally,the
volume was designed to celebrateProfessorUtley's retirementfrom teaching. He de-
cided not to retire, however, and so the function had to be changed to that of a sixty-
fifth-birthdaypresent. The most eminent scholarsfrom the related fields of medieval
literatureand folklore are represented,and their twenty-fiveessaysform a fitting tribute
to ProfessorUtley'swide-ranginginterests.
The initial fifteen articlesexplore the major concernsof the medievalist: Beowulf,
Sir Gawainand the Green Knight, the Arthurianromances,Chretiende Troyes,Chau-
cer, Malory,and Caxton.Five in particularmerit the considerationof the folklorist.For
the studentof onomastics,Tauno F. Mustanoja'slengthy study of "The SuggestiveUse
of ChristianNames in Middle English Poetry" gives valuable insights into the deri-
vation and varied meanings of proper names, from A6lis to Ysabel. Within the same
field, Albert C. Baugh explores "Conventionand Individualityin the Middle English
Romance"by examiningthe texts of Bevis of Hamptonand Octavian.Throughcareful
analysis,he demonstrateshow the individualartist'stemperament,powers of observa-
tion, imagination,and artisticskills affect his treatmentof well-established,traditional
materials.The folk narrativealso receivesattention,first, from Helaine Newstead, who
compares early English traditions connected to the Wild Hunt, and, second, from
MortonW. Bloomfield,whose essayon the Miller's Tale, that perennialfavorite,eluci-
dates the complex structure,the tall tale verisimilitude,and the amoralvision of the
fabliau. Finally, Arthur G. Brodeur'sopening essay on Beowulf should be standard
reading for both advocatesand enemies of the Parry-Lordtheoryof epic composition.
The latter group will be somewhathappierwith Brodeur'sfindings, for he effectively
refutes FrancisMagoun'scontentionthat Beowulf is merely a "folk-poem"createdby
solderingtogetherseveraldistincttraditions.