The Juggler of Notre Dame and the Medievalizing of Modernity

Abstract

This ambitious and vivid study in six volumes explores the journey of a single, electrifying story, from its first incarnation in a medieval French poem through its prolific rebirth in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Juggler of Notre Dame tells how an entertainer abandons the world to join a monastery, but is suspected of blasphemy after dancing his devotion before a statue of the Madonna in the crypt; he is saved when the statue, delighted by his skill, miraculously comes to life. Jan Ziolkowski tracks the poem from its medieval roots to its rediscovery in late nineteenth-century Paris, before its translation into English in Britain and the United States. The visual influence of the tale on Gothic revivalism and vice versa in America is carefully documented with lavish and inventive illustrations, and Ziolkowski concludes with an examination of the twentieth century explosion of interest in The Juggler of Notre Dame and its place in mass culture today. Volume 2: Medieval Meets Medievalism deals with the influence of the tale in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Europe and America, and the development of literary medievalism at this time. Presented with great clarity and simplicity, Ziolkowski’s work is accessible to the general reader, while its many new discoveries will be valuable to academics in such fields and disciplines as medieval studies, medievalism, philology, literary history, art history, folklore, performance studies, and reception studies.

“Holy Fools”: The Journey of Calling for Christian Variety Performers

“…There is little scholarly work that focuses on where Christian vocation and variety performance overlap. Ziolkowski's six-volume work (2018a, 2018b, 2018c, 2018d, 2018e, 2018f) is a remarkable example of such research. Ziolkowski, however, looks at vocation for the religious variety performer by exploring the history and development of one particular medieval story about a traveling juggler, the aforementioned The Juggler of Notre Dame .…”

“…Ziolkowski says the holy fools are those who “engage in seemingly weak-minded behavior from which a clear-headed person would refrain” (sword-swallowing, anyone?). He named Francis of Assisi as an example whose “clowning had the collateral effect of illuminating the degree of his simplicity.” Francis “reportedly presented himself … as a slow-minded fool or jester of God” (2018a, p. 100). In the interview data, I heard this idea of God using “the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” as the heart of Christian variety performing (Cantalbert quoting 1 Cor 1:27).…”

“…They observe the tumbler pouring himself out to the point of collapse. In some versions, the performer dies from exhaustion at the feet of Mary (Ziolkowski, 2018a, p. 21, 2018e, p. 210). Suddenly, the statue of Mary comes to life.…”

“…She wipes the juggler's sweat with her robe and comforts the weary performer. The peering monks then fall to their knees and confess, “Blessed are the simple, for they will see God” (France, 1906/2018; Ziolkowski, 2018a, pp. 19–20).…”