The Irish Framework of Gawain and The Green Knight

PMLA ◽  
1932 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Arthurian Romance ◽  
Arthurian Romances ◽  
Grail Legend ◽  
History Of

Amid the controversial winds that blow about the region of Arthurian studies it is agreeable to have a few solid rocks of irrefutable argument. Professor Kittredge in his Study of Gawain and the Green Knight has demonstrated beyond all question two highly important points: first, that the theme of the Beheading Test, which occurs in Arthurian romances, French, English, and German, from about 1180 to about 1380, is derived from an Irish tradition actually existent in a MS. written before 1106; secondly, that the latest of these romances in date of composition is closer in many ways to the original Celtic form than is the earliest. It is well for students to ponder these facts when the authority of Foerster and Bruce is invoked to deny the presence of a strong Celtic element in Arthurian romance, and when some scholars seem to accept as an axiom the principle that if the same motif occurs in two romances, the later borrowed it from the earlier. Indeed, a whole history of the Grail legend has been constructed on this simple but often delusive formula.

‘Adventure? What Is That?’ On Iwein

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicitas Hoppe
Keyword(s):  
Medieval Literature ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Arthurian Romance ◽  
Medieval Poetry ◽  
Arthurian Romances ◽  
Young Adult Novel ◽  
Narrative Techniques ◽  
Popular Images ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Poetic Work

Felicitas Hoppe gives an introduction to the art of adapting medieval poetry that is in itself a poetic work. In 2008, Hoppe adapted Hartmann von Aue’s Arthurian romance Iwein into a highly successful young adult novel. She speaks about this experience and about the art of adapting medieval literature more generally: about encountering popular images of knights looking like ladies and about inverted gender roles in Hartmann’s romance; about history as produced by wishes; about finding Iwein by chance in a bookshop and being captivated by its beauty; about the romance’s surprising timelessness in its psychologically astute characterisation, its sensible rationality and its uncompromising morality; about the dialectic between boredom and adventure, between the desire to grow up and the fear of growing up in all good children’s books (and Arthurian romances); about the relationship between honour and masculinity in the romance code of values; about Iwein’s insistence on physicality; and about narrative techniques for modernising the text (including the introduction of Iwein’s companion, the lion, as the narrator). As a whole, Hoppe’s piece is a remarkably sensitive analysis of how and why aspects of medieval literature exert a fascination on creative minds. It compellingly demonstrates the wealth of insights that adaptors of medieval texts gain, which can complement and inspire those of literary critics.

scholarly journals VIENO SPEKTAKLIO ISTORIJA („NUSIAUBTOS ŠALIES“ CHRONOLOGIJA IR TOPOGRAFIJA)

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 93-111
Author(s):  
Marija Oniščik
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Theatre History ◽  
Historical View ◽  
Medieval Theatre ◽  
Real Presence ◽  
Liturgical Drama ◽  
Grail Legend ◽  
Literary Images ◽  
History Of ◽  
In The Beginning

Tai filosofinis pasakojimas apie Gintaro Varno spektaklį „Nusiaubta šalis“ ir jo istorinį-literatūrinį kontekstą. Pagrindinė spektaklio tema įvardijama kaip Dievo vieta istorijoje. Tekste vartojami „vertikalaus laiko“ ir „istorijos spirale“ įvaizdžiai, būdingi viduramžių menui. Šalia pastebėjimų apie viduramžių teatro specifiką ir jos atspindėjimą spektaklyje tekste vartojamos H. Bergsono, G. Bachelard’o, G. Deleuze’o, P. Ricoeuro įžvalgos į laiko problematiką bei J. Derrida religijos filosofijos intarpai. Spektakliui būdingas virtualus laikų ir vietų daugybiškumas, skirtingų laikų sutraukimas vienoje trukmėje primena Bergsono „filosofinio laiko“ koncepciją. Paradigmos metonimiškumas leidžia traktuoti šį spektaklį kaip sakramentinį teatrą, kuriame performatyvumas bei papildomumo principas sukuria Realaus Buvimo efektą.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: teatras, istorija, vaizdas, laikas, vieta, Realus Buvimas.THE HISTORY OF ONE SPECTACLE (CHRONOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF „THE DESTROYED LAND“)Marija Oniščik SummaryThe text tells a story of „The Destroyed Land“ – the spectacle by Gintaras Varnas, considered as a spiral journey through time and places, paradigmatically showing the historical view of how the spectacle was born and performed, what literary images from Arthurian cycle gave rise to its plot and setting, what the historical and mythological import lies in the beginning of Grail legend, and what the sacramental meaning follows from it. The philosophical purpose of the text is to investigate the problem of time as it is presented in the spectacle together with treatment of place. It is argued that in the spectacle, there is a medieval view of history as „vertical“ time, presented paradigmatically as a whole, which reminds us of the Bergsonian conception of time with its instantaneous multiplicity. It is also proximate to medieval notion of aeviternity in Thomas Aquinas, as the mean between time and eternity, in which the succession of time treated as the changeableness of place, is compatible with being simultaneously whole. The text also analyses those features of the spectacle, which make it very similar to the medieval theatre with its simplicity of staging originated from liturgical drama. It is stated that here one has a sacred theatre, which has not a referential but a performative function to create a real world akin to the sacramental Real Presence, represented by the image of Grail. From the philosophical point of view, the religious longing for Grail can be treated as Derridian messianicity.Keywords: theatre, history. image, time, place, Real Presence.

Study Of Arthurian Romances: With Emphasis To Thomas Malory

Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-534
Author(s):  
Anindita Naha ◽  
Anindita Naha ◽  
Dr. Mirza Maqsood Baig
Keyword(s):  
King Arthur ◽  
Medieval Romance ◽  
Arthurian Legend ◽  
Arthurian Romance ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Arthurian Romances ◽  
Morte D'arthur ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Major Branch

The expedition on Malory’s Morte d’Arthur emphasis on the masculine activity of chivalry—fighting, questing, ruling— while parallelly reflects the chivalric enterprise as impossible in absence of the feminine in a subjugated position. The medieval romance text of Malory differs from other Arthurian romance literature in the explicit legislation (as opposed to implicit coding) of chivalric values, most notably in the swearing of the Pentecostal Oath, an event unique to Malory’s text. This paper emphasis on the way the institution of the Oath defines and sharpens specific ideals of masculine and feminine gender identities in the Arthurian community, arguing that a compulsion to fulfill these ideals drives the narrative of the Morte d’ Arthur forward to its inevitable ending. Thus, the function of gender in the Morte d’Arthur can only be adequately explored in a book that traces in depth the development of gender constraints from the beginning of the “Tale of King Arthur” to the “Day of Destiny” and its aftermath. One reason the Morte d’Arthur merits a sustained study in terms of gender is due to its status as the most comprehensive and sustained medieval treatment of the Arthurian legend by a single author. This text is about the famous fiction stories about legendary King Arthur, his life and death predominantly compose the spine of Malory’s tale. There are, as well, other passages and tales, in which Arthur is not in the centre of the plot. Stories were translated by Malory from French models, reflects the major branch of author’s all sources. most famous fiction stories about legendary King Arthur, whose life and death predominantly compose the spine of Malory’s tale. There are, as well, other passages and tales, in which Arthur is not in the centre of the plot.

Jessie Weston and the Ancient Mystery of Arthurian Romance

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliette Wood
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Arthurian Romance ◽  
Arthurian Romances

AbstractThis article presents a survey of the work of Jessie Weston and examines her role in the development of Arthurian studies in the first half of the twentieth century. In her considerable output of articles, editions, and retellings of Arthurian romance tales, Weston attempted to establish links between major themes in medieval Arthurian romances and the ancient traditions of the Celts. These speculations reached their height in her most famous and most controversial book,

Jews Reading Arthurian Romances from the Middle Ages: On the Reception of Chrétien de Troyes'sYvain, the Knight of the Lion, based on Manuscript JTS Rab. 1164

AJS Review ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-401
Author(s):  
Rella Kushelevsky
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
French Literature ◽  
Chretien De Troyes ◽  
Arthurian Romance ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Jewish Society ◽  
Arthurian Romances ◽  
Christian Society ◽  
The Middle Ages ◽  
Cultural Interactions

Evidence of Jewish readerships for French literature in the Middle Ages, particularly romances, has been accumulating. This article focuses on a recently discovered tale from Italy, copied in Hebrew in MS JTS Rab. 1164, as a prism through which to explore the cultural interactions between Jewish and Christian society in Italy of the early Renaissance. I first analyze the Jewish tale, which I posit has an affinity with the Arthurian romanceYvain, The Knight of the Lionby Chrétien de Troyes, and expound on the thematic and poetic links between the two stories. I then examineYvain’s reception in Italy as part of a broader phenomenon involving the acceptance, copying, adaptation, and assimilation of French romances in Italy into vernacular Italian. Finally, I present the story and the factors that played a role in its reception in the context of Italian Jewish society. The entirety of the review offers an overall portrait of the story's reception as a unique socioliterary phenomenon shared by Jews and non-Jews alike in Italy in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

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