Part Two: Lyricism and the Book in the Thirteenth Century

1.The Rose is not entirely without precedent, of course; it can be linked to the narrator interventions in Le Bel Inconnu and Partenopeu de Blois.for example, or Calogrenant's story in Yvain.The Rose is, however, the first known instance in French literature in which first person narrative is the substance of an entire romance.19• This particular rubrication appears as early as the thirteenth century; for example it is found in MS Bibl.Nat.fr.1559 (fol.8gv).' 28.Hoepffner, "Poesies lyriques du Dit de la panthere, " pp.214, 227• 29.The more accurate term would be "pseudoautobiography"; I do not mean to sug gest that the narrative should be read as a factual account of events that befell the real Nicole de Margival.