Old Antif

Aucassin and Nicolette is an anonymous French work from around ca. 1220 (give or take 50 years). It combines multiple Old French genres in a subtle parody of the literature of its age. It's sophisticated entertainment for readers who were already familiar with, and perhaps bored by, classics of the previous century. Everything is turned on its head: women who act like men, men who act like women, Christians with Muslim names, Muslims with Christian names, wars fought with food (not over food), warriors who do not kill, heroes who would rather go to hell than heaven, and so on. Yet it's so skillfully framed in a tender hearted love story one would be forgiven for missing the satire entirely, as many early critics did after the work was rediscovered in the 18th century. I'm impressed by its subtle sophistication considering its antiquity, the humor still works to reveal the different literary tropes popular during the 12th century. In a sense it reminds me of Candide or Gulliver's Travels, I had no idea anything like it existed so early in Medieval literature.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2011 cc-by-nd
I read two versions:

*Aucassin and Nicolette, translation and introduction by Andrew Lang (1887). An unauthorized fine press edition by Thomas Bird Mosher "the prince of pirates", via Internet Archive (scanned book).
*Aucassin et Nicolette (pdf), translated by Eugene Mason (2001).

The Mason version is easier as he modernizes the language making the plot easier to understand. The Lang version is closer to the original and thus has more of a flavor of the period, it is more satisfying, but takes concentration dealing with unusual vocab and grammar.… (més)