Beiträge zur mediävistischen Erzählforschung (BmE)
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Se construire en maître. L’exemple de Guillaume de Machaut
Get PDFI examine the construction of authority in two texts by Guillaume de Machaut, written in the first person. These two texts ‹Le Remede de Fortune› and ‹Le Voir Dit› are both a love story and a reflection on writing, but they take place at two points in the poet’s life: youth in ‹Le Remede de Fortune›, old age in ‹Le Voir Dit›. In the first text, the poet uses an allegory, Hope, to teach a young lover about love, Fortune and poetry. In the second, the elderly poet, who is loved precisely because he is a poet, delivers his teaching directly to a very young girl in these three areas: Love, Fortune and Poetry. Both texts refer to the term treatise, ‹Fortune’s Remedy› at the end of the story: «But at the end of this treatise / Which I compiled and composed» (v. 4257–4258), the ‹Voir Dit› at the beginning where the poet speaks of «This treatise that I make for her» ( v. 519). Why? I examine the displacement of the elements of didacticism from one text to another and their reason.I examine the construction of authority in two texts by Guillaume de Machaut, written in the first person. These two texts ‹Le Remede de Fortune› and ‹Le Voir Dit› are both a love story and a reflection on writing, but they take place at two points in the poet’s life: youth in ‹Le Remede de Fortune›, old age in ‹Le Voir Dit›. In the first text, the poet uses an allegory, Hope, to teach a young lover about love, Fortune and poetry. In the second, the elderly poet, who is loved precisely because he is a poet, delivers his teaching directly to a very young girl in these three areas: Love, Fortune and Poetry. Both texts refer to the term treatise, ‹Fortune’s Remedy› at the end of the story: «But at the end of this treatise / Which I compiled and composed» (v. 4257–4258), the ‹Voir Dit› at the beginning where the poet speaks of «This treatise that I make for her» ( v. 519). Why? I examine the displacement of the elements of didacticism from one text to another and their reason
Unnr’s Story. Interaction between Prose and Poetry in ›Njáls saga‹
Get PDFDie ›Njáls saga‹ ist eines der berühmtesten Werke des isländischen Mittelalters. Nur wenige der zahlreichen Publikationen zu dieser Saga befassen sich jedoch mit dem Text als Prosimetrum und berücksichtigen die in ihm erhaltenen Strophen. Obwohl die Mischung von Vers und Prosa als generisches Charakteristikum der Sagaliteratur gilt, werden die Strophen in der Forschung kaum als integrales Element ihrer narrativen Ästhetik berücksichtigt. Mein Beitrag zeigt am Vergleich zweier Versionen der ›Njáls saga‹, welchen Einfluss die Strophen auf die narrative Ästhetik und die Struktur des Textes haben und wie die Strophen mit der Prosa interagieren, sowohl in ihrem unmittelbaren Kontext als auch im Gesamtzusammenhang der Saga.›Njáls saga‹ is one of the most famous works of the Icelandic Middle Ages, yet very little scholarship on the saga deals with it as a prosimetric text or considers the stanzas preserved in its narrative. Although the combination of verse and prose has been acknowledged as a generic feature of saga literature, stanzas are not often considered as an integral element of their narrative aesthetic. By comparing two versions of ›Njáls saga‹, my article demonstrates how the stanzas influence the narrative aesthetic and structure of the text, and how verse and prose interact both in their immediate context and in the broader picture of the saga
Ovide converti. L’autobiographie exemplaire du ‹De Vetula› dans la traduction de Jean Lefèvre
Get PDFThe pseudo-Ovidian ‹De Vetula› enjoyed lasting success throughout the medieval period, as can be seen, in particular, from the influence it exerted on the Ovidian Accessus, for which it provided abundant material for sketching out the biographical section. In the ‹De Vetula›, the narrator gives a long account of his life, which helped to flesh out the allusions contained in the other authentic works: starting with an erotic disappointment, the narrator – the great preceptor amoris – detaches himself over time not only from love, but from all material pleasures and occupations, to turn to philosophy, to turn to God. The character of Ovid here occupies the role of the perfect convert: the unbridled libertine bears witness, in the first person, to his journey towards God. His strange autobiography does not make him a martyr of love, but almost a father of the desert. At the end of the 14th century, Jean Lefèvre translated this clerical farce into French, retaining the plot but introducing an additional level of enunciation, insofar as «I» in now also him. This study compares the autobiographical model of the Latin original with that of the French version, and notes the stability of the original model, which is left virtually unchanged by the translator.The pseudo-Ovidian ‹De Vetula› enjoyed lasting success throughout the medieval period, as can be seen, in particular, from the influence it exerted on the Ovidian Accessus, for which it provided abundant material for sketching out the biographical section. In the ‹De Vetula›, the narrator gives a long account of his life, which helped to flesh out the allusions contained in the other authentic works: starting with an erotic disappointment, the narrator – the great preceptor amoris – detaches himself over time not only from love, but from all material pleasures and occupations, to turn to philosophy, to turn to God. The character of Ovid here occupies the role of the perfect convert: the unbridled libertine bears witness, in the first person, to his journey towards God. His strange autobiography does not make him a martyr of love, but almost a father of the desert. At the end of the 14th century, Jean Lefèvre translated this clerical farce into French, retaining the plot but introducing an additional level of enunciation, insofar as «I» in now also him. This study compares the autobiographical model of the Latin original with that of the French version, and notes the stability of the original model, which is left virtually unchanged by the translator
›er was sô langgewahsen / daz er ze risen wart gezelt‹. The Saxon Duke as a ›giant(-like) figure of injustice‹ in Konrad von Würzburg’s ›Swan Knight‹
No full textDie Untersuchung beleuchtet die narrativen Strategien, die Konrad von Würzburg einsetzt, um den Sachsenherzog im ›Schwanritter‹ als archetypischen Unrechtsvertreter zu inszenieren. Trotz seiner zunächst rein menschlich wirkenden Beschreibung wird der Herzog im Konflikt zum (immer noch menschlichen) Riesen ›emporwachsen‹. Die Analyse zeigt, dass diese Transformation kein Zufall ist, sondern erzählerisch sorgfältig vorbereitet wird. Konrad verbindet durch seine Schilderung des Zweikampfes zwischen Schwanritter und Riesenritter das Erzählschema ›Kampf David gegen Goliath‹ mit der spezifischen Erbschafts- und Rechtsproblematik des Textes. Damit unterscheidet sich seine Version deutlich von anderen Ausprägungen des Schwanritterstoffes, die zur Kontrastierung herangezogen werden (›Chevalier au Cygne‹, ›Lohengrin‹).The study highlights the narrative strategies that Konrad von Würzburg employs to portray the Duke of Saxony as an archetypal representative of injustice in the ›Schwanritter‹. Although initially depicted as human, the Duke ›grows into‹ a giant – albeit still a human one – during the conflict. The analysis shows that this transformation is not coincidental but is carefully prepared narratively. Through his depiction of the duel between the Swan Knight and the Giant Knight, Konrad manages to connect the narrative type ›Fight of David versus Goliath‹ with the specific inheritance and legal issues of the text. This makes his version distinctly different from other iterations of the Swan Knight legend, which are used for contrast, such as ›Chevalier au Cygne‹ and ›Lohengrin‹
The Affordances of Allegory: Ships, Travel, and the Atlantic in Henry Watson’s ‘Shyppe of Fooles’ (1509) and Alexander Barclay’s ‘Shyp of Folys of the Worlde’ (1509)
Get PDFDie beiden ersten englischen ›Narrenschiff‹-Übersetzungen – Henry Watsons ›Shyppe of Fooles‹ (1509) und Alexander Barclays ›Shyp of Folys of the Worlde‹ (1509) – unterscheiden sich nachhaltig in der allegorischen Darstellung von Schiffen und Reisen, nicht nur aber insbesondere mit Blick auf den Atlantik. Die Divergenzen lassen sich einerseits mit den unterschiedlichen Übersetzungswegen erklären sowie andererseits mit dem Nutzen der Schiffsallegorie, die für die jeweiligen Übersetzungen sinnstiftend, jedoch teilweise konträr eingesetzt wird. Ausgehend von James J. Gibsons (1966) Konzept der ›affordances‹ sowie dessen literarischer Weiterentwicklung durch Caroline Levine (2015) untersucht der vorliegende Beitrag die Schnittstellen zwischen formalen und inhaltlichen Darstellungen von maritimen Reisen in Watsons und Barclays Texten. Die Schiffssymbolik nimmt in Barclays Versdichtung teilweise eine materielle, auf globale Entwicklungen eingehende Dimension an, während Watsons Prosaübersetzung maßgeblich die religiösen Potentiale der Allegorie hervorbringt. Damit zeigen die beiden im gleichen Jahr veröffentlichten Texte nicht nur die unterschiedlichen Affordanzen der Schiffs- und Reiseallegorie, sondern die ko-existenten Potenziale von realen und imaginären Überfahrten in neue Welten in einer von zunehmenden globalen Erkundungen geprägten Welt des frühen 16. Jahrhunderts.The first two English translations of the ›Ship of Fools’ – Henry Watson’s ›Shyppe of Fooles‹ (1509) and Alexander Barclay’s ›Shyp of Folys of the Worlde‹ (1509) – differ significantly in their allegorical depiction of ships, travels, and the Atlantic. These variances can be explained partly by the texts’ different translation routes as well as by their distinctive use of allegory as a formal device. Drawing on James J. Gibson’s (1966) concept of ›affordances‹ and on Caroline Levine’s (2015) study of the affordances of literary forms, this article examines the representations of maritime voyages in Watson’s and Barclay’s texts with a particular focus on the forms and functions of the ship allegory. In Barclay’s verse translation, ship symbolism takes on a distinctly material dimension that responds to nautical developments around 1500. Watson’s prose translation, in contrast, works predominantly with the religious potential of the ›ship of fools‹ allegory. Taken together, the two texts remind us how differently allegories of maritime journeys are put to use in the early sixteenth century and, in so doing, illustrate the literary potential of real and imaginary travels in an increasingly globalized world
Micro-narratives and the Connection of Stanzas in the Wechsel of Reinmar MF 151,33, 169,9 and 198,4
No full textDer Beitrag knüpft an die jüngere Forschung an, die verstärkt nach den Interferenzen zwischen den beiden Großgattungen Minnesang und Roman bzw. zwischen lyrischer Reflexion und Narration fragt. Im Mittelpunkt stehen drei Lieder, mit denen Reinmar der Alte an die frühminnesängerische Gattung des Wechsels anschließt, diese aber in spezifischer Weise fortführt. Gefragt wird zum einen nach der Geschichte, die in den Monologen der Wechsel erzählt wird, zum anderen nach den poetischen Mitteln, welche die Strophen verbinden und damit die fehlende narrative Kontinuität ausgleichen.This contribution ties in with recent research, which increasingly addresses interferences between the genres of the Minnesong and the novel and, concomitantly, between lyrical reflection and narration. Three lieder are in focus and serve as examples. Reinmar employs them to align himself with the genre of the Wechsel of the early Minnesong tradition, but he continues this tradition in specific ways. This essay scrutinises both the stories, which are told in the monologues of the Wechsel, and the poetic devices, which connect the stanzas and thereby counterbalance their lack of narrative continuity
Das Verhältnis von Ich-Erzähler und Autorschaft in der ›Mörin‹ (1453) Hermanns von Sachsen-heim: Vom Manuskript zur Drucküberlieferung
Get PDFThe paper deals with the poem ›Die Mörin‹ by the Swabian nobleman Hermann von Sachsenheim, written in 1453. Within the late medieval German-language genre of Minnereden, this text is remarkable not only for its unusual length (6070 verses) and its structural moments of content, which are often contrary to the conventions of the genre, but also for its unusually broad tradition, also including the print medium (a total of twelve textual witnesses, four of which are early prints). The focus here is specifically on the question of the implications of the chosen homodiegetic narrative form for the staging of authorship and the authorisation of the narrative. To this end, two different but ultimately interlocking aspects are considered. Firstly (in the first section) the text itself, i.e. with a view to the functional interlocking of the complex plot structure, which repeatedly undermines the circular genre scheme based on the repetition of the same, with the mediating homodiegetic instance, whose identity oscillates several times between the experiencing and the narrating self. This applies in particular, but by no means exclusively, to the outer margins of the text (prologue and epilogues). On the other hand, the second section deals with the impact of later printing of the text on its narrative structure and the construction of authorship embedded in it. With the help of the multi-layered paratextual apparatus that the editor of the Strasbourg first edition of 1512, the humanist Johannes Adelphus Muling, added to the ›Mörin‹, its authorship is renegotiated and reauthorised externally. The narrating ›I‹ and the real-life author Hermann von Sachsenheim now clearly coincide, while at the same time with the Christian doctrine of marriage Muling imposes an exemplary pattern of interpretation on the text, thus making it available to the widest possible audience beyond the original aristocratic circle of addressees.The paper deals with the poem ›Die Mörin‹ by the Swabian nobleman Hermann von Sachsenheim, written in 1453. Within the late medieval German-language genre of Minnereden, this text is remarkable not only for its unusual length (6070 verses) and its structural moments of content, which are often contrary to the conventions of the genre, but also for its unusually broad tradition, also including the print medium (a total of twelve textual witnesses, four of which are early prints). The focus here is specifically on the question of the implications of the chosen homodiegetic narrative form for the staging of authorship and the authorisation of the narrative. To this end, two different but ultimately interlocking aspects are considered. Firstly (in the first section) the text itself, i.e. with a view to the functional interlocking of the complex plot structure, which repeatedly undermines the circular genre scheme based on the repetition of the same, with the mediating homodiegetic instance, whose identity oscillates several times between the experiencing and the narrating self. This applies in particular, but by no means exclusively, to the outer margins of the text (prologue and epilogues). On the other hand, the second section deals with the impact of later printing of the text on its narrative structure and the construction of authorship embedded in it. With the help of the multi-layered paratextual apparatus that the editor of the Strasbourg first edition of 1512, the humanist Johannes Adelphus Muling, added to the ›Mörin‹, its authorship is renegotiated and reauthorised externally. The narrating ›I‹ and the real-life author Hermann von Sachsenheim now clearly coincide, while at the same time with the Christian doctrine of marriage Muling imposes an exemplary pattern of interpretation on the text, thus making it available to the widest possible audience beyond the original aristocratic circle of addressees
‹Le Temple de Bocace› de George Chastelain ou l’autorité problématique de l’historiographe
No full textSeen as a continuation of Boccaccio’s ‹De Casibus virorum illustrium›, ‹The Temple of Bocaccio› was written by George Chastelain between 1463 and 1465 to console the Queen of England, Margaret of Anjou, who had been exiled to Burgundy following the deposition of her husband, Henry VI, in 1461 and the accession to the throne of Edward IV. In this treaty, George Chastelain’s authority appears problematic in the face of Marguerite d’Anjou’s power and the prestige of his predecessor, whom he intends to praise. The effacement of the author’s ‹I› in the form of his passivity –the treatise is the result of a vision received between waking and sleeping– can be explained by his desire to speak under cover, in order to freely address a political and moral lesson to the queen and the great men of this world. The author thus succeeds in asserting his own authority in three ways: by inventing the dream setting, in which a voice invests him with the mission of continuator; by creating the metaphor of the temple; and finally by promoting the glory of the writer, capable of eclipsing that of the illustrious unfortunates whose fate he has recounted.Seen as a continuation of Boccaccio’s ‹De Casibus virorum illustrium›, ‹The Temple of Bocaccio› was written by George Chastelain between 1463 and 1465 to console the Queen of England, Margaret of Anjou, who had been exiled to Burgundy following the deposition of her husband, Henry VI, in 1461 and the accession to the throne of Edward IV. In this treaty, George Chastelain’s authority appears problematic in the face of Marguerite d’Anjou’s power and the prestige of his predecessor, whom he intends to praise. The effacement of the author’s ‹I› in the form of his passivity –the treatise is the result of a vision received between waking and sleeping– can be explained by his desire to speak under cover, in order to freely address a political and moral lesson to the queen and the great men of this world. The author thus succeeds in asserting his own authority in three ways: by inventing the dream setting, in which a voice invests him with the mission of continuator; by creating the metaphor of the temple; and finally by promoting the glory of the writer, capable of eclipsing that of the illustrious unfortunates whose fate he has recounted
Temporal Communities in der vormodernen Kleinepik: ed. by Maren Jäger / Hans Jürgen Scheuer / Silvan Wagner
No full textVormoderne Kleinepik basiert auf Bruch- und Fundstücken aus einem Repertoire mobiler sprachlicher Formeln und mentaler Vorstellungen: Motivische Schemata, argumentative Topoi, konsensstiftende Spruchformen und Exempel oder performative Sprechakte und Gesten erscheinen als modulare Einheiten, als Varianten wiedererkennbarer Typen zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten in unterschiedlichen Formaten, Überlieferungs- und Diskurszusammenhängen. Sie bilden narrative und ikonische Gefüge aus, die sich als „temporal communities“ beschreiben lassen.
Die Beiträge des Bandes machen dieses offene Konzept textueller „temporal communities“ produktiv, um die Metamorphosen und Reisen solch kompakter Bausteine – wie (Zauber- und Segens-)Sprüche, Motive, Figurationen und Handlungsschemata – durch Zeiten und Formate zu verfolgen
Des allégories au chevet de l’auteur: ‹Le Livre de l’Esperance› d’Alain Chartier
Get PDFThis article proposes to put into perspective the contribution of Alain Chartier to the format of the allegorical first-person narration, by taking into account the representation of allegorical creation in ‹Le Livre de l’Esperance›, the author’s latest work: ‹The Book of Hope›, which had a decisive influence on later poets, seems in fact to constitute an analysis, and perhaps a criticism, of the subjective dimension of allegorical figures. Opposing two modes of allegorical figuration, one finding its principle in the imagination tormented by Melancholy and generating negative creatures, the other in memory, opened by Understanding, which allows the appearance of theological virtues, Chartier’s work raises the question of the legitimacy of allegorical writing and its capacity to establish authority.This article proposes to put into perspective the contribution of Alain Chartier to the format of the allegorical first-person narration, by taking into account the representation of allegorical creation in ‹Le Livre de l’Esperance›, the author’s latest work: ‹The Book of Hope›, which had a decisive influence on later poets, seems in fact to constitute an analysis, and perhaps a criticism, of the subjective dimension of allegorical figures. Opposing two modes of allegorical figuration, one finding its principle in the imagination tormented by Melancholy and generating negative creatures, the other in memory, opened by Understanding, which allows the appearance of theological virtues, Chartier’s work raises the question of the legitimacy of allegorical writing and its capacity to establish authority