Beiträge zur mediävistischen Erzählforschung (BmE)
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Weibliche Autorschaft in allegorischen Ich-Er¬zählungen über Liebe: Christine de Pizan und Hadewijch von Antwerpen
Get PDFThe paper deals with late medieval allegorical first-person narratives about love that usually recount a love experience from the point of view of a male lover-poet. It examines systematic shifts between the constitutive elements of this text family ? the first-person stance, allegorical form and the courtly love theme ? that occur in texts of this type written by women authors, as in the visions of 13th-century beguine Hadewijch of Antwerp and the writings of early 15th-century author Christine de Pizan. Christine shows a certain distance towards the implication of herself in the story and/or to the use of allegory in her texts on love. However, if she establishes an allegorical framework while filling all three functions of the ›I‹ ? author, narrator and protagonist ?, she brings to the fore subjects other than love. In contrast, the female mystic Hadewijch of Antwerp expresses agency in love and is authorized by her love experience to write about it in her visions. The conception of a feminine soul as spouse of God may have facilitated Hadewijch’s appropriation of the first-person stance and agency in love. The shift in gender of the loving and authorial ›I‹ in her visions goes along with a shift in the scope of allegory and of love, both of which have a religious nature. In order to better conceptualize this underlying gender system of the text family and include historical aspects of what it means to say ›I‹, the paper proposes to extend a purely literary perspective by applying Foucault’s and Agamben’s concept ›dispositive‹.The paper deals with late medieval allegorical first-person narratives about love that usually recount a love experience from the point of view of a male lover-poet. It examines systematic shifts between the constitutive elements of this text family ? the first-person stance, allegorical form and the courtly love theme ? that occur in texts of this type written by women authors, as in the visions of 13th-century beguine Hadewijch of Antwerp and the writings of early 15th-century author Christine de Pizan. Christine shows a certain distance towards the implication of herself in the story and/or to the use of allegory in her texts on love. However, if she establishes an allegorical framework while filling all three functions of the ›I‹ ? author, narrator and protagonist ?, she brings to the fore subjects other than love. In contrast, the female mystic Hadewijch of Antwerp expresses agency in love and is authorized by her love experience to write about it in her visions. The conception of a feminine soul as spouse of God may have facilitated Hadewijch’s appropriation of the first-person stance and agency in love. The shift in gender of the loving and authorial ›I‹ in her visions goes along with a shift in the scope of allegory and of love, both of which have a religious nature. In order to better conceptualize this underlying gender system of the text family and include historical aspects of what it means to say ›I‹, the paper proposes to extend a purely literary perspective by applying Foucault’s and Agamben’s concept ›dispositive‹
Poor Henrys. From Job’s Poverty to Rich Authorship and Succession
No full textUm 1500 taucht ein Pauper Henricus in der Literatur auf, der in der Forschung bisweilen für Irritationen sorgt, weil man ihn mit Hartmanns Armen Heinrich verwechselt. Es handelt sich jedoch um den Dichter Heinrich aus Settimello nahe Florenz, der sich in einem einzigen überlieferten Text, einer Klageschrift in der Tradition der Trostphilosophie mit dem Titel ›Elegia‹, in seinem Leid und seiner Armut typologisch an Hiob anschließt. In einer akademisch-lateinischen Kultur etabliert er sich seit dem späten Mittelalter nicht nur als Schulautor, sondern er wird zur Identifikationsfigur und zum Schutzpatron von studentes pauperes, die sich aufgrund der Personalunion von Gelehrtheit und Armut in seine Nachfolge stellen. Doch damit nicht genug, helfen ihm um 1500 anonyme Dritte samaritanisch in seiner schmalen Autorschaft auf, indem sie ihm postum Texte zuschreiben und unterschieben, die vornehmlich das Thema ›Armut‹ behandeln. Gleichsam exemplarisch zeigt sich, wie sich an der mächtigen typologischen Folie des Hiob eine temporal community gemeinschaftsstiftend über die Zeiten hinweg konstituiert.Around 1500, a Pauper Henricus appears in literature, who sometimes causes confusion among scholars because he is mistaken for Hartmann’s Poor Henry. However, it is the poet Henry from Settimello near Florence who, in a single surviving text, a lament in the tradition of consolation philosophy entitled ›Elegia‹, typologically echoes Job in his suffering and poverty. In an academic-Latin culture, he not only established himself as a school author from the late Middle Ages onwards, but also became a figure of identification and the patron saint of studentes pauperes, who followed in his footsteps due to the personal union of scholarship and poverty. Around 1500, anonymous third parties Samaritanically assisted him in his narrow authorship by posthumously attributing and subordinating texts to him that primarily dealt with the subject of ›poverty‹. The powerful typological backdrop of Job serves as an example of how a temporal community is constituted across the ages
›Unanimous in love‹? Precarious Community and the Formation of Communal Bonds in Caesarius of Heisterbach’s ›Dialogus Miraculorum‹
No full textIm Fokus der Untersuchung steht der ›Dialogus Miraculorum‹ des Caesarius von Heisterbach. Der ca. 750 Exempel starke Lehrdialog wird nicht nur durch ein fiktives Mönch-Novize-Gespann zusammengehalten. Die einzelnen Exempel sind auch durch intratextuelle Vor- und Rückverweise miteinander verzahnt unter dem vorangestellten Wort Jesu »Sammelt die Stücklein, damit sie nicht verderben« (Joh 6,12). Biblische Lehrtopoi sind grundsätzlich zur performativen Realisierung durch die Gemeinde (Leser) in der Nachfolge Christi bestimmt. Der in phänomenologischer Hinsicht als ›temporal community‹ beschreibbare intratextuelle Verbund lässt sich funktional als handlungsveranlassende ›pragmatical community‹ begreifen. Wie diese ›pragmatical community‹ im Zuge ihrer performativen Realisierung durch den Leser in eine ›personal community‹ in Form einer kritischen Glaubens- und Verstehensgemeinschaft überführt werden kann, versucht der Beitrag exemplarisch zu zeigen.The focus of the study is the ›Dialogus Miraculorum‹ by Caesarius of Heisterbach. The doctrinal dialogue, which contains around 750 examples, is not only held together by an instructing monk and an instructed novice. The individual exemplars are also interlinked by intratextual forward and backward references under the prefacing words of Jesus: »Gather up the (leftover) fragments, that nothing may be lost« (John 6:12). Biblical doctrinal topoi are fundamentally intended for performative realisation by the congregation (readers) as followers of Christ. The intratextual network, which can be described in phenomenological terms as a ›temporal community‹, can be understood functionally as a ›pragmatic community‹ that initiates action. This article attempts to show by way of example how this ›pragmatical community‹ can be transformed into a ›personal community‹ in the form of a critical community of faith and understanding in the course of its performative realisation by the reader
Alexander and the Dwarf. World Rulership as a Question of Format
No full text›Temporal Communities‹ bilden sich in der vormodernen Exempeldichtung nicht nur durch Überlieferungsgemeinschaften (etwa in kleinepischen Sammelhandschriften oder gedruckten Collectaneen). Sie ergeben sich auch über Formatwechsel im Transfer zwischen Gattungen und Medien. Dass Denkmuster verkleinert werden können (bis zum nucleus eines Figurennamens) oder sich vergrößern lassen (bis zum epischen Weltmodell), ermöglicht ihr Fortbestehen in den verschiedensten formalen und situativen Kontexten. Beispielhaft für eine solche Skalierbarkeit von Kalkülen und für die multiplen Temporalitäten ihres wechselnden Gebrauchs steht die apokryphe Episode von der Begegnung Alexanders des Großen mit dem Zwergenkönig Anteloie. Sie scheint über Namensbezüge oder agonale Handlungskonfigurationen bald biographisch und chronikalisch amplifiziert, bald kleinepisch und spruchdichterlich komprimiert. Dabei gewährt sie gleichnishaft Einblicke in die arcana imperii und in die Interdependenz von expansiver Großartigkeit und unterschwelliger Winzigkeit im Herrschaftshandeln.›Temporal Communities‹ in pre-modern exemplary poetry do not originate solely from communities of transmission (such as manuscript anthologies or printed collectanea). They also arise from format changes occurring during the transfer between different genres and media. The possibility of reducing or enlarging thought patterns down to the nucleus of a character\u27s name or up to the epic world model enables them to persist in a wide range of formal and situational contexts. One example of this scalability and of the multiple temporalities of their use is the apocryphal episode of Alexander the Great\u27s encounter with the dwarf king Anteloie. Through references to names or agonal configurations, the episode appears at times biographically and chronologically amplified, at times epically and poetically compressed, all while providing parable-like insights into the arcana imperii negotiating the relation between expansive majesty and the nanotechnique of political prudence
L’auteur, le narrateur et les quatres dames. Une construction singulière, une posture particulière
No full textUnlike Guillaume de Machaut or Jean Froissart before him, Christine de Pizan who was his contemporary, or François Villon after him, Chartier signs little to nothing of his texts, whether French or Latin. Yet the public has often identified Chartier as an author with his narrators. But what\u27s striking is that, speaking as a lover, the acteur (the narrator) refuses a certain auctorial status. And if there is a signature in both ‹Belle dame sans merci› and ‹Livre des quatre dames›, it’s one that appears to be set back. In the second work, moreover, the narrator sends the debate to be settled with an epistle to the one he loves. This message is also the messenger of the fearful lover. Indeed, two of the manuscripts of the text give a small body to this character placed in the narrator’s track. In the London volume, he brings the book to the lady-judge, and if we analyze the image as that of an auctorial dedication, then the image reinforces our reading of the texts: iconographically, too, the author is downplayed in relation to the actor.Unlike Guillaume de Machaut or Jean Froissart before him, Christine de Pizan who was his contemporary, or François Villon after him, Chartier signs little to nothing of his texts, whether French or Latin. Yet the public has often identified Chartier as an author with his narrators. But what\u27s striking is that, speaking as a lover, the acteur (the narrator) refuses a certain auctorial status. And if there is a signature in both ‹Belle dame sans merci› and ‹Livre des quatre dames›, it’s one that appears to be set back. In the second work, moreover, the narrator sends the debate to be settled with an epistle to the one he loves. This message is also the messenger of the fearful lover. Indeed, two of the manuscripts of the text give a small body to this character placed in the narrator’s track. In the London volume, he brings the book to the lady-judge, and if we analyze the image as that of an auctorial dedication, then the image reinforces our reading of the texts: iconographically, too, the author is downplayed in relation to the actor
Narrative Voices: Options and Limitations in Saga Literature: ed. by Anna Katharina Heiniger
No full textDas Themenheft präsentiert, wie vielfältig und kreativ die Erzählstimmen die altnordischen Sagas gestalten. Narratologisch zeichnet sich die Sagaliteratur unter anderem durch die Präsenz mehrerer Erzählstimmen auf verschiedenen Erzählebenen aus. Durch die unterschiedlichen Qualitäten der einzelnen Stimmen entstehen nicht nur Ambiguitäten und Spannungsbögen, die Erzählstimmen hinterfragen zum Teil auch gegenseitig ihre Autorität. Die Gesamterzählung erschließt sich daher nur aus dem Zusammenspiel der Stimmen. Um die narrative Komplexität der Sagas zu erfassen, muss sich das Publikum mit der Erzählweise auseinanderzusetzen. Solche Gestaltungsweisen lassen sich genreübergreifend finden. Es scheint somit zwar einen impliziten Rahmen der akzeptierten Erzählmöglichkeiten für Sagaliteratur zu geben, der aber gleichzeitig viel Raum und Flexibilität für narrative Kreativität zulässt.The special issue explores the diverse and creative ways in which narrative voice(s) curate the Old Norse sagas. In terms of narratology, saga literature is characterised by the presence of several narrative voices at different narrative levels. Because of the different qualities of the individual voices, ambiguities are created, suspense is evoked, and the narrative voices sometimes undermine each other\u27s authority. The overall narrative is therefore only revealed through the interplay of the voices. To fully comprehend the narrative complexity of the sagas, it remains the task of the audience to engage with the narrative. The ways in which voices are used can be found across genres. Thus, there seems to be an implicit framework for the acceptability of narrative options in saga literature, which, however, leaves plenty of room and flexibility for creative storytelling
Authorship, Authorization, and Authority in Medieval First-Person Narratives: Some Introductory Remarks
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The ›Historical-I‹ in Guillaume de Machaut’s ›Livre du Voir Dit‹
Get PDF›Le Livre du Voir Dit‹ (»The Book of the True Poem«), likely composed in the early 1360s, is Guillaume de Machaut’s summative work in the dit amoureux tradition that he had done so much to advance for more than two decades. The ›LVD‹ is a massive work, consisting of a lengthy verse narrative, a substantial portfolio of love letters exchanged between the narrator, who reveals himself as an intratextual version of the poet and a much younger woman whom he names Toute-Belle, a number of lyrics in the various formes fixes that are generated by this epistolary exchange, as well as the musical settings for many of these. This present essay addresses the most striking formal, and also referential, element of the ›LVD‹, Machaut’s deployment of a historical-I, a speaking/composing voice who references his authorial activities and the real-life romance. These are presented with a wealth of detail that with some investigation reveals itself to be genuine, not fabulized. This ›I‹ narrates the story, but also connects it to his actual experiences, offering a text that, as he avers, is both true AND a dit. Such an ›I‹, the narrating source of the story and its subject, becomes, of course, a not uncommon feature of modern fiction, and Machaut must be counted as one, perhaps the most important of the late medieval writers who made their own experiences the subject of the stories they would tell. He is both in the text as an ›I‹ that refers obsessively and accurately to his existential self, as well as a storytelling consciousness that is equally comfortable with narrating mundane events and describing the doings of a celestial goddess who descends to earth in order to chastise Machaut’s fictional alter ego for his inattention. In organizing the multi-layered pastiche that is the ›LVD‹, this ›I‹ anticipates the incorporative rhetorics of both modern and postmodern fiction.›Le Livre du Voir Dit‹ (»The Book of the True Poem«), likely composed in the early 1360s, is Guillaume de Machaut’s summative work in the dit amoureux tradition that he had done so much to advance for more than two decades. The ›LVD‹ is a massive work, consisting of a lengthy verse narrative, a substantial portfolio of love letters exchanged between the narrator, who reveals himself as an intratextual version of the poet and a much younger woman whom he names Toute-Belle, a number of lyrics in the various formes fixes that are generated by this epistolary exchange, as well as the musical settings for many of these. This present essay addresses the most striking formal, and also referential, element of the ›LVD‹, Machaut’s deployment of a historical-I, a speaking/composing voice who references his authorial activities and the real-life romance. These are presented with a wealth of detail that with some investigation reveals itself to be genuine, not fabulized. This ›I‹ narrates the story, but also connects it to his actual experiences, offering a text that, as he avers, is both true AND a dit. Such an ›I‹, the narrating source of the story and its subject, becomes, of course, a not uncommon feature of modern fiction, and Machaut must be counted as one, perhaps the most important of the late medieval writers who made their own experiences the subject of the stories they would tell. He is both in the text as an ›I‹ that refers obsessively and accurately to his existential self, as well as a storytelling consciousness that is equally comfortable with narrating mundane events and describing the doings of a celestial goddess who descends to earth in order to chastise Machaut’s fictional alter ego for his inattention. In organizing the multi-layered pastiche that is the ›LVD‹, this ›I‹ anticipates the incorporative rhetorics of both modern and postmodern fiction
Horse Blessings and Worm Exorcism, or: Overcoming Contingency in the Early Middle Ages. From Pagan Germanic Magic Spells to Christian Apotropaic Micronarratives.
No full textAlthochdeutsche Beschwörungen, Segen und (Zauber-)Sprüche können als Wurzel vernakularer Literatur gelten und verfolgen zugleich apotropäische Ambitionen. Mit ihren performativen Handlungsanweisungen und motivischen Topoi changieren sie zwischen Magie, Medizin und Religion. Am Beispiel einiger prominenter Pferdesegen und Wurmexorzismen werden zeitweilig sich formierende Motivreihen und Überlieferungsgemeinschaften als ›Temporal Communities‹ dargestellt und analysiert. Die kodikologischen Befunde geben dabei den Blick frei auf kulturelle und praxeologische Kontexte, in denen die Sprüche tradiert werden, damit sie ihre Wirkung entfalten und zur Kontingenzbewältigung beitragen.Old High German incantations, blessings and spells can be considered the roots of vernacular literature and at the same time pursue apotropaic ambitions. With their performative instructions and motivic topoi, they oscillate between magic, medicine and religion. Using the example of a number of prominent horse blessings and worm exorcisms, the series of motifs and communities of tradition that emerge from time to time are presented and analysed as ›temporal communities‹. The codicological findings provide an insight into the cultural and praxeological contexts in which the sayings are passed on so that they can unfold their effect and contribute to overcoming contingency
The Polar Bear Conspiracy. The Narrative Voice and Strategies of Silence in ›Brands þáttr örva‹, ›Þorsteins þáttr uxafóts‹, and ›Sneglu-Halla þáttr‹
Get PDFDieser Artikel beschäftigt sich sowohl mit dem Schweigen der Erzählstimme, einzelner Figuren, als auch den Auswirkungen des Verschweigens auf die Erzählung. Die Untersuchung ausgewählter altnordischer, kurzer Erzählungen (þættir) zeigen, dass Schweigen eingesetzt wird, um den Fokus des Publikums zu lenken und den Genuss der Erzählung zu steigern. Dieses Schweigen fällt nur auf, wenn Handlungslücken nicht erklärt werden oder eine Episode mehrfach anders beschrieben wird. Das Schweigen tritt dabei auf verschiedenen Ebenen und bei unterschiedlichen Stimmen auf. Es ist damit kein exklusives Phänomen moderner Texte, sondern wird bereits in der Vormoderne genutzt, unter anderem um die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums zu steuern.This article focuses on the silence of the narrative voice and of silent characters, as well as the consequences this silencing has for the plot of saga narratives. By analysing three Old Norse short stories (þættir), it can be shown how the narrative voice uses silence to steer the audience’s attention and to enhance its enjoyment of the narrative. Silence is only noticeable when the narrative voice leaves gaps unexplained or describes an episode differently than the characters do. Silence appears on different narrative levels and is employed through various voices. It is thus not a phenomenon restricted to modern works, but can also be identified in premodern texts as a way to direct the audience’s attention