Wiedererzählen, Weitererzählen und Beschreiben: Der Jüngere Titurel als ekphrastischer Roman (review)

The massive and often rather mysterious Jüngere Titurel (ca. 1260) by the little known Albrecht (von Scharfenberg) is the topic of Britta Bussmann's Münster doctoral dissertation (2008/2009), directed by Volker Honemann and Tomas Tomasek. She draws on the concept of ekphrasis as one of the most essential narrative strategies pursued by Albrecht and hence investigates this voluminous work in light of the poet's descriptive methods. Since Albrecht drew on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival (ca. 1205) and the fragmentary Titurel (ca. 1220), yet hugely expanded their fundamental elements, it makes good sense to analyze the text by way of comparison with these sources. Bussmann begins, however, with an almost tiresome discussion of the rhetorical elements characterizing ekphrasis, and does not turn to her actual thesis until page 57. But even there she interrupts her own analysis and returns to theoretical investigations of the use of the term "ekphrasis" for the critical examination of a late-medieval romance. She wants to free herself from the constraints imposed by classical rhetoric and tries to utilize the term/concept in a broader context, since Albrecht includes numerous and highly detailed descriptions of buildings and objects, all determined by strong symbolism and implied meaning—in essence an ekphrasis as Bussmann sees it (pp. 14-18). What different types of description here constitute ekphrasis, in contrast to the classical definition, which was widely applied in medieval literature, does not find a convincing explanation here.

The first major chapter (pp. 64-137) resumes, once again, the theoretical reflections of the previous section, and concludes with the following definition of an ekphrastic text: "a narrative system in which all of its parts collaborate, but in which all those parts gain validity only through that process" (p. 137; my trans.). This then justifies Bachmann's approach to identify Albrecht's descriptions of the Grail temple, of Sigune's hermetic cell, and of the dog leash with its stunning text embossed on it as ekphrastic, especially because each time there is an element of artistic skill involved. The second major chapter, which rounds off this study, focuses on those three aspects and illuminates how the author/narrator operates with them, adapting them from his source (Wolfram), and develops them further through extensive discussion of even the minutest details.

It is not easy to come to terms with Bussmann's critical approach because she writes in a highly repetitive, circular manner, stating the obvious through a freshly conceived perspective, and yet without offering innovative insights. (Ironically, her own characterization of Albrecht in light of previous research seems to apply to her own writing style [p. 158].) One example might suffice: "If we accept Albrecht's ekphrasis of the Grail temple in this explicitly presented manner, then Albrecht explains his didactic impetus implicitly as the measuring stick of his own artistic skill and of his moral integrity. This gauge guarantees him, even if only according to the standards developed for the fictional world, his worthiness to join the Grail and thus places him on the same level as the templeisen (Templar knights), that is, with the best Christians, as he saw it" (p. 309, my trans.; again, the meaning does not become clear!). In short, as Bussmann argues, for Albrecht the literary work constitutes a religious service. This then motivates her to discuss Albrecht's romance over long stretches in light of previous approaches to ekphrasis, comparing the Jüngere Titurel with Wolfram's works and with similar passages in Hartmann von Aue's Erec and other texts. There is no doubt that Albrecht demonstrates a great fascination with descriptive elements, which led to an enormous growth of the romance in quantitative terms. This then forces Bussmann as well to work through the text in ever new approaches, discussing specific aspects, but this to such an extent that the reader might even lose patience and get...