Raymond Lulle, Contes et fables. Trans. with an introduction by Patrick Gifreu. Perpignan: Editions de la Merci, 2020, 205 pp.

Abstract: Patrick Gifreu is a prolific translator of the works of Raymond Llull or Raymond Lulle (1232–1315), and this selection of tales and fables, translated into French from the Catalan, is a welcome addition to the bibliography of the European moral tale. Gifreu has culled fifty-seven short texts from three romances by Llull: the Romanç d’Evast e Blaquerna (ca. 1283), the Llibre de Meravelles (1289), and the Arbre de Ciència (1295–1296). Gifreu provides a very informative introduction, placing Llull and his tales in their historical context and giving a detailed chronology of Llull’s long life. A hugely prolific author of philosophical, theological, and scientific works written in Latin, Arabic, and Catalan, Llull intended the vernacular romances to illustrate and disseminate ideas developed as part of his larger project, the Ars magna, conceived as a compendium of all knowledge and universal truth. More specifically, Llull’s goal was the propagation of the Christian faith which, in his historical and geographic context, meant the refutation of Christianity’s great rival, Islam, and the conversion of its practitioners.