Démons et merveilles dans le Roman des fils du roi Constant

An unfinished work made up of four drafts left in the margins of a manuscript, the novel of the Fils du roi Constant revisits the episode of Merlin’s conception. At the end of the thirteenth century, it tackles an already saturated subject which it seeks to renew through the accumulation of marvellous motifs and demoniac glamour. This article argues that this overabundance of the marvellous engenders an effect of familiarity which undermines its narrative effectiveness.