Fiction in the Archives PARDON TALES AND THEIR TELLERS IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY PRANCE Natalie Zemon Davis 1087 STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS ‘Sionjnd, CaljmiaSed aber Pre ‘Seed Catone © tty by he Bone of Ts ofthe Uh Sat ior Ura Libary of Cn Cogan Puen Dat rns Nite Zao 1938 oon tae, Bibiapy: 5. 1 enh rn atic Gh nary Hing and icon Plan Fone Hiya Soy String Pome —Hseoy eth Seotry_ 4 Crna oe, Alina pabtsox8 wy ays 28 ms fn ot.te alk pe) For historian par excellence and storytller, 100Preface For yeats Ihave been reading sistcenth-centuy leer oF remission foreaimes, duifilly taking notes on names and acs, while chuckling snd shaking my head as though Thad the Decamrno my hands ‘Tobegin wit, l uas especialy searching out people from the Lyon ssi, ut my eje Would be esa by a ansvese ti Langue doc or a family homicide in Pieardy. Then Iwas given the happy responsibility of writing @ review of Emmanuel Le Rey Ladaries ‘Monae Examining the Inquisition sources behind that splendid sed relied that one could find in these full and uninterrupted taratives some evidence forthe storyeling skills of Pyrenean vi- Jagersin the early fourtenth century. alle my eeview "The Story- tellers of Mentailou” and promised myself one day to make sich "analysis of dacoments from my own centr. When Stanford University invited me to give the Harry Camp Lectures for 1985-86, I ebought, "Here is my chance.” By now, ny sleuthing, om dhe Martin Guerre ease ad complicated my goals. ry boaie on that subject, Thad been able to describe hor the judge nd he law clerk structed te event ater the impostor was dea but what ofthe villagers’ memories? What cultural esourees did they use to order departures and reruns, identities and eomnplci ties, and how could you get evidence for thie forms of recta? So back to the archives for collecting lewers of remission from many parts of France IFT were not going to concentrate om adi tinctive regional style, chen a least I cull detect the range of nar