Reconstructing a Middle Dutch Alexander Compilation

This article provides a first description, edition and analysis of Antwerp, University Library, Special Collections, MAG-P 64.19. This fragment is the sole known remnant of a Middle Dutch compilation of stories about Alexander the Great copied by the well-known Ferguut scribe (ca.1350). Our research shows that this compilation comprised Dutch versions of the Voeux du paon and the twelfth-century Fuerre de Gadres, which was previously unknown to have been translated into Dutch. We advance the possibility that the Stuttgart and Brussels fragments of Alexanders geesten and Roman van Cassamus, which were also copied by the Ferguut scribe, belonged to a second copy of this compilation, providing a continuous narrative about the life of Alexander. In this respect, the Dutch compilation resembles contemporary manuscripts of the Roman d'Alexandre in which Alexandre de Paris' vulgate compilation was complemented with various amplifications. The combination of pre-existing Dutch stories into one (semi)coherent narrative is also similar to the famous Lancelot compilation, a collection of Arthurian narratives created in Brabant in approximately the same period. The fragment thus sharpens our understanding of the role of compilations in the dissemination of Middle Dutch chivalric romance.

The Presence of María de Velasco in Pinar’s Juego trobado, in the Carajicomedia, and in La novela del licenciado Vidriera by Cervantes

Research on the court ladies who participated in Pinar’s Juego trobado, a card game in verse completed in 1496, led to the discovery that María de Velasco, wife of Juan Velázquez de Cuéllar, and adoptive-mother of Ignatius Loyola, subsequently appears in several literary texts, the first of which is the Carajicomedia, where she is metamorphosed into an old prostitute skilled in the arts of seduction. Surprisingly, I have detected her presence in La novela del licenciado Vidriera, one of Cervantes’ Novelas ejemplares: each of the names of the main character, given or adopted during the course of his life, is linked in some way with this lady; and, furthermore, there are other correspondences, above all the symbolism of the quince. This begs the question whether the tale was intended to convey a coded message, and if so, one wonders what kind of message. This discovery also seems to add some credence to the theory that in Don Quixote Cervantes wished to parody the life of Ignatius Loyola as well as the heroes of chivalric romance.

Zur sozialen Logik der Tugendprobe

In a broad overview, this article examines the virtue test scenarios (›Tugendproben‹) in Arthurian romances and short narratives of the 13th and 14th centuries as well as in late medieval chivalric romance and Shrovetide plays. While literary research has mainly focused on didactic and comic moments of only two texts so far, the article aims at an underlying social structure formed by public control, rank representation, and concern for the cohesion of Arthurian society. This constellation, I argue, reflects the problem of reconciling two contradictory principles of courtly socialization: agonal competition and an assertion of virtual equality.

Lexical polysemy and homonymy in the Middle High German language in light of the problematic of lexical synonymy and lexical-semantic analysis

Based on the compositions of pre-courteous epic poetry and chivalric romance written in the Middle High German language, this article reviews the problem of lexical polysemy in relation to the phenomena of homonymy and synonymy, as well as the problem of structural description of lexis. The need for comprehensive examination of polysemous lexemes in the Middle High German language, which includes structural analysis of the meaning of polysemous word and the lexical-thematic group and/or synonymic row it belongs to, well as the study of contextual implementation of the meanings of polysemous word, is substantiated by the principle of diffusivity of meanings of polysemous word that complicates comprising dictionary definitions and creates difficulties for the researcher in distinguishing the meanings of a polysemous word and separating polysemy from homonymy. Based on the example of lexical-thematic group for denomination of edged weapon in the Middle High German Language, the author demonstrates the appropriateness of using lexical-semantic analysis for establishing systemic relations between the analyzed lexemes, as well as postulates the importance of the context in determination of the structure of polysemous word. Discussion of the given examples from the compositions of pre-courteous epic poetry and chivalric romance written in the Middle High German language is accompanied by the author’s clarifications to the dictionary definitions of the lexemes under review. The conclusion is made on feasibility of the authorial approach towards detection of the discrepancies between lexicographic data and use of the lexeme in the texts written in the Middle High German language. The author also believes that this research is valuable from the perspective of lexicographic practice.

TRANSFORMATION OF TRADITIONAL FANTASY CHARACTERS IN JOE ABERCROMBIE’S ‘THE FIRST LAW’ TRILOGY

Joe Abercrombie is a prominent contemporary British author famous for working in such a currently popular branch of fantasy as grimdark. The characteristic feature of Abercrombie’s novels is a conscious play with conventions, traditions and clichés of classical fantasy. This article is devoted to analysis of some central figures of Abercrombie’s The First Law trilogy: infamous warrior Logen Ninefingers, young nobleman Jezal dan Luthar, inquisitor Sand dan Glokta, and Bayaz, First of the Magi. The study aims to reveal, through comparison with classical models, how the mentioned characteristic feature of Abercrombie’s books manifests itself at the level of character development. The analysis shows that for creating his characters Abercrombie employs classical archetypes (a wise mentor, a young protagonist on a long journey to find treasure), which have roots, as much as fantasy literature itself, through adventure fiction and chivalric romance, in the fairy tale and mythos. However, in distinction from the authors of classical fantasy such as J.R.R. Tolkien and his numerous less talented followers, Abercrombie fills the characters who impersonate those archetypes in his works with psychological content that is not in accord with or even contradicts their traditional plot functions. Moreover, the writer changes and transforms the meaning of those functions, thus creating a complex, shadowy realistic image of his grimdark fantasy world instead of an optimistic fairy-tale one typical of earlier fantasy books. Abercrombie’s characters are not only realistic and impressive, they are built upon a three-element structure, more complex than that of characters in classical fantasy, which demonstrates the development of this kind of literature in general.

Material dimensions of a chivalric romance: metanarrative and book history in Ortúñez de Calahorra’s Espejo de príncipes y cavalleros and other libros de caballerías

Apart from a specific set of conventions in book design, the so-called “género editorial”, the Castilian chivalric romances from the late 15th to the early 17th c., are a varied genre. The paper takes a look at different ways in which materiality plays a role for the romances, situating them between market strategy and complex literary tradition. Certain approaches, from paratextual keywords (‘mirror’, ‘chronicle’) to metanarrative and metafictional elements (found manuscripts, pseudotranslations, metalepsis) are not only fixed topoi, but vary from text to text. In fact, they are in constant dialogue with recent developments in historiography, as well as other fictional genres. Thus, supernatural sources, contradictory textual evidence, and explanations of the marvelous often combine into a complex discursive strategy that helps explain the continuous popularity of the genre for more than 120 years.

Jacobin Allegory in Thelwall's The Rock of Modrec

This essay seeks to show that The Rock of Modrec occupies an important place in Thelwall's oeuvre and in the early development of Jacobin ‘seditious allegory’. While scholarship has thus far ignored The Rock of Modrec on account of its apparent juvenilia and ostensible apoliticism, I argue that Thelwall's chivalric romance allegorizes the British spirit as a champion of liberty and universal emancipation, and that it does so for a popular audience. Furthermore, its protagonist serves as a model for Jacobin allegorical reading practices: Sir Eltram begins as a passive receiver of ‘politico-sentimental’ appeals but eventually becomes an active allegorical interpreter, capable of reading into texts the universal truth of democratic liberty for which the British Jacobins strove. The Rock of Modrec thus serves as both an early example of Thelwall's use of ‘seditious allegory’ and a meta-textual commentary on the importance of allegorical reading as Jacobin radical praxis.

The Homer of Romancy-Writers

This chapter’s title quotes Margaret Cavendish’s description of Amadis and it explores the return to prominence post-1660 of Amadis’s relationship to French, rather than Spanish, literary culture. Don Quixote’s ‘witty abusing’ of chivalric romance is tempered from the 1650s by the importation of heroic romance from French and the development of ‘serious’ romance which defines itself in opposition to its Iberian forebears. Amadis became part of the Restoration refashioning of antebellum literary culture partly thanks to English writers’ experience of exile in France and the Low Countries. After the Restoration, Amadis continued to be a popular reference point in comedies, as the archetypal text of ‘amour and adventure’ and a window onto the lost world of Caroline theatre. Behn’s Luckey Chance (1686) and Farquhar’s The Inconstant (1702) are representative of this refashioning of the literary past, while D’Urfey’s Don Quixote plays of the 1690s look back to Jacobean stage satire.