SOURCE: “Writing and the Fragmentation of Authority,” in Villon's Last Will: Language and Authority in the Testament, Clarendon Press, 1996, pp. 13-33.

In this excerpt, Hunt examines the methods by which Villon calls into question the authority of his narrator in Le Testament, including his asides to the “scribe,” his allusions to other sources, and his use of irony.

Ce que j'ay escript est escript.(1) [What I have written is written] 

The testator places some emphasis on the writing of the Testament, that is, on its status as a written record—‘Escript l'ay l'an soixante et ung’ (81). There is never the slightest doubt that he is a highly literate man addressing an educated audience. Biographers will point out that in 1452 François Villon gained the Master of Arts degree of the University of Paris, but without departing from the text we are bound to take with a pinch of...