'Melibeico more,' ou le pseudo-diégétique: sur la conscience métaleptique d'un 'hapax'

Abstract

In his Latin chronicle, Lambert d'Ardres uses the expression Melibeico more to indicate the narrative strategy he relies on to insert the history of the Lords of Ardres into that of the Counts of Guines, pretending that a character within the chronicle itself, Gautier du Clud, is the one telling it. The article traces the origins of this expression and examines the history and fortunes of such narrative technique, tracing it back to Virgil and Plato. This technique is defined by Genette as "reduced metadiegetic" or "pseudo-diegetic:" a second-degree narrative brought up to the level of the primary narrative and taken in charge by its narrator, or, in other words, a metadiegetic narrative functioning as if it were a diegetic one.