ABSTRACT
The geographical vagueness of the Furioso, and indeed of chivalric romance more generally, places the emphasis on localized topographical features such as castles and forests. As P. E. Russell notes, the romances 'took great care to avoid localizing the actions they described in any recognizable geographical milieu, for to do so would inevitably be an upsetting intrusion into their secluded world of the imagination, diminishing and de-activating it by unwelcome contact with verifiable reality'. 1 The Quijote, although less extreme than its chivalresque model in the geographical freedom it displays, reveals a similar reticence concerning the specifics of place. Cervantes notably refuses to specify the name of Don Quijotes village in the opening paragraph, and, aside from those that unfold in the Sierra Morena and Barcelona, few of the episodes he narrates are assigned a precise, recognizable location. Henri Chardon finds this form of imprecision particularly frustrating in his effort to decipher Scarron's Roman comique: 'Il en est des localités du Roman comme des personnages: elles ont été empruntées à la réalité. Malheureusement, Scarron n'en a guère cité. A part celles de Bonnétable, de Sillé, on n'en rencontre pas dans son œuvre. Il s'est borné à de vagues désignations tout-à-fait approximatives, sans préciser aucun nom.' 2 This is peculiarly frustrating for Chardon, whose attempt to demonstrate that Scarron's novel is a roman à clef requires him to relate the fictional re-creation of Le Mans and the Mançois to their alleged originals. The only actual location that does in fact appear undisguised in the Roman comique is the Tripot de la Biche, concerning which Chardon reveals: 'En 1620 la maison de la Biche [...] se composait d'un grand corps de logis où pendait pour enseigne la Biche, et d'un autre petit corps de logis joignant au susdit, derrière lesquels il y avait un jeu de paume, le tout 78devant les Halles.' 3 At the time the Roman comique was written, the Biche was run by Gabriel Despins and his wife, Françoise Boutevm; although neither is named by Scarron, the opening chapter describes 'la Maistresse du Tripot' as someone 'qui aimoit la Comédie plus que Sermon ni Vespres', and her generosity, 'inouïe en une Maistresse de Tripot', is immediately demonstrated by her allowing the oxen drawing the troupe's cart to feed freely (I. 2). 4
