the thematic structure of the main clause in OLd French, OR versus SI

Thematic Structure and Symbolic Motif in the Middle English Breton Lays

Traditio ◽

10.1017/s0362152900000544 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 62 ◽

pp. 83-118 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Shearle Furnish

Keyword(s):

Middle English ◽

Old French ◽

Close Relation ◽

Thematic Structure ◽

Sir Orfeo ◽

Folk Tale ◽

Literary Forms ◽

Multi Media ◽

Breton Lays

The Breton Lays in Middle English is an enigmatic label customarily used to designate eight or nine brief narratives: Sir Orfeo, Sir Degaré, Lay le Freine, “The Franklin's Tale,” Sir Launfal, The Earl of Toulouse, Emaré, and Sir Gowther. The label is awkward because it may seem to suggest that the poems are consistently derived from or inspired by Breton or Old French sources and thus are a sort of stepchildren, little more than translations or, worse, misunderstandings of a multi-media heritage. Most scholars have seen the grouping as traditional and artificial, passed along in uncritical reception, not resting on substantial generic similarities that distinguish the poems from other literary forms. John Finlayson, for instance, concludes, “In fact, considered coldly, shortness and adventure or ordeal would seem to be the only things that can really be isolated as universal characteristics.” Some scholars have accounted for the poems as a set. The distinctions they discuss commonly include the lays' close relation to the conventions of the folk-tale, relationship to provincial audiences, and a growing sophistication of the craft of fiction.

Download Full-text

Main Clause Word Order in Old French

Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory - Syntactic Change in Medieval French ◽

10.1007/978-94-015-8843-0_3 ◽

1997 ◽

pp. 35-132

Author(s):

Barbara S. Vance

Keyword(s):

Word Order ◽

Old French ◽

Main Clause

Download Full-text

From Altered States to Altered Titles: A Close Analysis of the Title Sequence to Ken Russell's Altered States (1981)

Journal of British Cinema and Television ◽

10.3366/jbctv.2015.0285 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 556-571

Author(s):

Jack Post

Keyword(s):

Altered States ◽

Thematic Structure ◽

Personal Projects ◽

Mise En Abyme ◽

Narrative Representations ◽

Close Analysis ◽

Film Images ◽

The Spectator ◽

To Come ◽

The Aesthetic

Although most title sequences of Ken Russell's films consist of superimpositions of a static text on film images, the elaborate title sequence to Altered States (1981) was specially designed by Richard Greenberg, who had already acquired a reputation for his innovative typography thanks to his work on Superman (1978) and Alien (1979). Greenberg continued these typographic experiments in Altered States. Although both the film and its title sequence were not personal projects for Russell, a close analysis of the title sequence reveals that it functions as a small narrative unit in its own right, facilitating the transition of the spectator from the outside world of the cinema to the inside world of filmic fiction and functioning as a prospective mise-en-abyme and matrix of all the subsequent narrative representations and sequences of the film to come. By focusing on this aspect of the film, the article indicates how the title sequence to Altered States is tightly interwoven with the aesthetic and thematic structure of the film, even though Russell himself may have had less control over its design than other parts of the film.

Download Full-text