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Doppelweg und Biographie

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Probleme des Artusromans
This chapter is in the book Probleme des Artusromans

Abstract

This essay reexamines the long debated question of the Arthurian ›dual path‹-scheme which has long been held to constitute the fundamental generic device that distinguishes Arthurian romance from other forms of vernacular narrative. Our argument is based on the assumption that French Arthurian romance, which arose in the late 12th century in the wake of the notions of subjectivity, individuality and the subsequent emphasis laid on education, is on the whole biographical romance of the enfances-type and presents us with a large variety of modified, amplified or abbreviated forms of a basically archetypal pattern. In the light of this structural hypothesis the general practicality of the ›dual path‹-device in Arthurian criticism seems to be open to question. Actually, Chrétien seems to have fully developed the scheme only in Erec et Enide that - for very special thematic reasons - fulfills all the supposed requirements of the device, while the Chevalier au lion already proposes an ironic variation of the earlier model. Later authors seem to have followed their great predecessor in ironically playing with or altogether avoiding this pattern.

Abstract

This essay reexamines the long debated question of the Arthurian ›dual path‹-scheme which has long been held to constitute the fundamental generic device that distinguishes Arthurian romance from other forms of vernacular narrative. Our argument is based on the assumption that French Arthurian romance, which arose in the late 12th century in the wake of the notions of subjectivity, individuality and the subsequent emphasis laid on education, is on the whole biographical romance of the enfances-type and presents us with a large variety of modified, amplified or abbreviated forms of a basically archetypal pattern. In the light of this structural hypothesis the general practicality of the ›dual path‹-device in Arthurian criticism seems to be open to question. Actually, Chrétien seems to have fully developed the scheme only in Erec et Enide that - for very special thematic reasons - fulfills all the supposed requirements of the device, while the Chevalier au lion already proposes an ironic variation of the earlier model. Later authors seem to have followed their great predecessor in ironically playing with or altogether avoiding this pattern.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Inhalt V
  3. Vorwort der Herausgeber VII
  4. Zur Einführung IX
  5. Ausgewählte kleine Schriften
  6. Arthurian Adventure or Quixotic ›Struggle for Life‹? 3
  7. Lancelot et les fées 19
  8. Doppelweg und Biographie 37
  9. Temps et histoire dans la littérature arthurienne 61
  10. Der lange Weg zu einem ›anderen‹ Chrétien 83
  11. Der Lancelot-Roman als Paradigma 105
  12. Der defiziente arthurische Körper 123
  13. Zum Problem der Epizität im ›postklassischen‹ Artusroman 155
  14. Father and Son or the Problem of the Generational Paradigm in Old French Arthurian Verse Romance 171
  15. Parodie und Artusroman 187
  16. Fictional History as Ideology 203
  17. Forschungsinterferenzen 221
  18. Artusrittertum und Melancholie 231
  19. Der Artusheld als Opfer oder Begünstigter des Wunderbaren im nachklassischen Artusroman 247
  20. La Carole magique ou le triomphe de l’esthétique 257
  21. Anhang
  22. Verzeichnis der arthurischen Schriften von Friedrich Wolfzettel 271
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110694567-003

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Inhalt V
  3. Vorwort der Herausgeber VII
  4. Zur Einführung IX
  5. Ausgewählte kleine Schriften
  6. Arthurian Adventure or Quixotic ›Struggle for Life‹? 3
  7. Lancelot et les fées 19
  8. Doppelweg und Biographie 37
  9. Temps et histoire dans la littérature arthurienne 61
  10. Der lange Weg zu einem ›anderen‹ Chrétien 83
  11. Der Lancelot-Roman als Paradigma 105
  12. Der defiziente arthurische Körper 123
  13. Zum Problem der Epizität im ›postklassischen‹ Artusroman 155
  14. Father and Son or the Problem of the Generational Paradigm in Old French Arthurian Verse Romance 171
  15. Parodie und Artusroman 187
  16. Fictional History as Ideology 203
  17. Forschungsinterferenzen 221
  18. Artusrittertum und Melancholie 231
  19. Der Artusheld als Opfer oder Begünstigter des Wunderbaren im nachklassischen Artusroman 247
  20. La Carole magique ou le triomphe de l’esthétique 257
  21. Anhang
  22. Verzeichnis der arthurischen Schriften von Friedrich Wolfzettel 271
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