Jeux de faces devant la mort : Tristan et Yseut dans quelques manuscrits du Tristan en prose
The Face Games When Confronting Death : Tristan and Ysolt in Some Manuscripts Belonging to Tristan en prose

Summary/Abstract: Against a theoretical background created by Erving Goffman’s concept of “face-work”, enriched by Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson’s notion of “Face-Threatening Acts”, completed and systematized by Catherine Kerbrat-Orecchioni’s presentation of “Face-Flattering Acts”, Tristan and Ysolt can be approached from a modern viewpoint. The manuscript tradition of the Prose Romance of Tristan (XIIIth – XVth centuries) offers a virgin field for pragmatic research, where text and miniatures compete with one another in the illustration of amorous “face-work”. Our “jeux de faces” (face-games) focus on the final episode of the lovers’ death, and represent a “facial” insight in the triangular relationship of Mark, Tristan and Ysolt against the ultimate stage of their fictional lives.

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