When is the Swan Knight Not the Swan Knight? Berthold von Holle's Demantin and Literary Space in Medieval Europe

When is the Swan Knight Not the Swan Knight? Berthold von Holle's Demantin and Literary Space in Medieval Europe

Berthold von Holle wrote three thirteenth-century romances that straddle the boundary between Low and High German. This article addresses the challenges posed by his position on the northern perimeter of the medieval German literary canon. It argues against a reductive focus on Arthurian romance whe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Modern language review Vol. 112; no. 3; pp. 666 - 685
Main Author: Alastair Matthews
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Modern Humanities Research Association 01-07-2017
Subjects:
Abstract spaces
Geography
German literature
Linguistics
Literary history
Medieval literature
Narratives
Sagas
Taboos
Written narratives
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Berthold von Holle wrote three thirteenth-century romances that straddle the boundary between Low and High German. This article addresses the challenges posed by his position on the northern perimeter of the medieval German literary canon. It argues against a reductive focus on Arthurian romance when contextualizing Berthold, describing instead an apparent reworking of the Swan Knight story in Demantin . The article thereby reassesses Berthold's significance, proposing that research on European literatures would be better able to deal with such authors if it deployed an abstract concept of literary space alongside approaches that focus on the material world and manuscript transmission.
ISSN:0026-7937
2222-4319
DOI:10.5699/modelangrevi.112.3.0666