From ca. 1330, Guillaume de Deguileville's Le Pèlerinage de l'âme enjoyed a popularity similar to the Roman de la rose (Guillaume de Lorris, ca. 1230/40; Jean de Meun, ca. 1270/80), and it also has significant parallels with Dante's Divina Commedia (completed ca. 1320) considering the pilgrimage theme in its allegorical dimension. There is hence no need to discuss at length the need or value of an English translation of this famous and highly influential text, which has survived in more than ninety extant manuscripts and early printed editions, along with early modern translations into English, German, Dutch (3), and Spanish (Clasby does not give us details here; see, however, for instance the online listing of the Dutch translations at: http://www.handschriftencensus.de/werke/5736). I have not been able to identify any German translations or printings, at least not between 1450 and 1750. The influence of this metaphorical pilgrimage on late medieval literature cannot be overestimated (Chaucer, Spenser, etc.), but we do not know enough about its European impact, and the present introduction also leaves us only with some indications, without going into details. Clasby, however, discusses all the little details we know about Guillaume's biography, the subsequent editions of the Pèlerinage, and the current state of research. Considering the huge influence which Guillaume certainly exerted, particularly in the French-speaking world, but certainly also far beyond, encourages us to pursue this topic further.
The present English translation promises to make this investigation more effective. Clasby made the very reasonable decision to render it in straightforward prose, instead of imitating the rhymed octosyllabic couplets; songs or hymns in the text here appear in four-stress lines. Most importantly, he has based his translation on the solid edition of the text by J. J. Stürzinger (Roxburghe Club, 1895), which in turn is based on the ms. A (Paris, Bib. Nat., fr. 12466). However, there is no detailed discussion of the large number of other surviving manuscripts, and ultimately it might be possible that we will have to draw on a different manuscript, if future research might deem this to be necessary.
Before the actual English translation, Clasby presents the complete list of manuscripts of the original French text. It will be very useful in subsequent research to list as well the manuscripts of versions of this poem in other languages and the early modern printings (the first English translation printed by William Caxton, 1483; in Dutch, 1483, 1486, and 1498; in Spanish, 1490; in French again in 1485, 1499, 1500, 1504, 1511, 1515). There are at least ten manuscripts of the English translation and Caxton's printed version (see the anonymous but well researched site on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrimage_of_the_Soul; Oct. 4, 2017) There is not much to say about the solid translation itself, which is not accompanied by a facing-page edition of the text. But Guillaume did not create a highly complex narrative, despite the many dialogues, often containing some ironic passages. Clasby accompanies his translation with useful comments in the footnotes, and he adds the verse numbers of the original within the text (every tenth line).
This very welcome and highly useful English translation concludes with the bibliography and an index. Upon this basis we can only hope for renewed research on this most influential religious dream allegory from the late Middle Ages. It is unclear to me what the real difference would be between the present new English translation and the one which Clasby had published already in 1992 (Guillaume's second version from 1355; so, granted, with significant variations from and additions to the first; but more explanations would have been helpful). As much as we can welcome Clasby's contribution, I would have liked him to discuss the differences between his translation and those by M. D. Clubb (1954), J. Flynn (1973), and Rosemarie P. McGerr (1990) more in detail. They all pursue specific purposes, and so does Clasby's.