Fictional History as Ideology
-
Friedrich Wolfzettel
Abstract
Arisen from the theological controversies around the Eucharist by the turn of the twelfth century, the Grail is more than a religious symbol; as a political and ideological emblem it becomes the core of a series of alternative concepts of Sacred History whose background seems to be the crisis of chivalry. From Robert de Boron to the anonymous author of the Estoire del Saint Graal we are presented with the variants of a sacralized Arthurian history in which chivalry forms a providential genealogy. In the Queste del Saint Graal, however, the Grail has become a mighty, but vanishing ideal that will not be able to impede the breakdown of the Arthurian realm. More than a century later, in the Perceforest, the last attempt at fictional history, the loss of significance of the Grail serves to illustrate a new secularized chivalric religion.
Abstract
Arisen from the theological controversies around the Eucharist by the turn of the twelfth century, the Grail is more than a religious symbol; as a political and ideological emblem it becomes the core of a series of alternative concepts of Sacred History whose background seems to be the crisis of chivalry. From Robert de Boron to the anonymous author of the Estoire del Saint Graal we are presented with the variants of a sacralized Arthurian history in which chivalry forms a providential genealogy. In the Queste del Saint Graal, however, the Grail has become a mighty, but vanishing ideal that will not be able to impede the breakdown of the Arthurian realm. More than a century later, in the Perceforest, the last attempt at fictional history, the loss of significance of the Grail serves to illustrate a new secularized chivalric religion.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt V
- Vorwort der Herausgeber VII
- Zur Einführung IX
-
Ausgewählte kleine Schriften
- Arthurian Adventure or Quixotic ›Struggle for Life‹? 3
- Lancelot et les fées 19
- Doppelweg und Biographie 37
- Temps et histoire dans la littérature arthurienne 61
- Der lange Weg zu einem ›anderen‹ Chrétien 83
- Der Lancelot-Roman als Paradigma 105
- Der defiziente arthurische Körper 123
- Zum Problem der Epizität im ›postklassischen‹ Artusroman 155
- Father and Son or the Problem of the Generational Paradigm in Old French Arthurian Verse Romance 171
- Parodie und Artusroman 187
- Fictional History as Ideology 203
- Forschungsinterferenzen 221
- Artusrittertum und Melancholie 231
- Der Artusheld als Opfer oder Begünstigter des Wunderbaren im nachklassischen Artusroman 247
- La Carole magique ou le triomphe de l’esthétique 257
-
Anhang
- Verzeichnis der arthurischen Schriften von Friedrich Wolfzettel 271
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Inhalt V
- Vorwort der Herausgeber VII
- Zur Einführung IX
-
Ausgewählte kleine Schriften
- Arthurian Adventure or Quixotic ›Struggle for Life‹? 3
- Lancelot et les fées 19
- Doppelweg und Biographie 37
- Temps et histoire dans la littérature arthurienne 61
- Der lange Weg zu einem ›anderen‹ Chrétien 83
- Der Lancelot-Roman als Paradigma 105
- Der defiziente arthurische Körper 123
- Zum Problem der Epizität im ›postklassischen‹ Artusroman 155
- Father and Son or the Problem of the Generational Paradigm in Old French Arthurian Verse Romance 171
- Parodie und Artusroman 187
- Fictional History as Ideology 203
- Forschungsinterferenzen 221
- Artusrittertum und Melancholie 231
- Der Artusheld als Opfer oder Begünstigter des Wunderbaren im nachklassischen Artusroman 247
- La Carole magique ou le triomphe de l’esthétique 257
-
Anhang
- Verzeichnis der arthurischen Schriften von Friedrich Wolfzettel 271
