In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Lyrische Narrationen—narrative Lyrik: Gattungsinterferenzen in der mittelalterlichen Literatur ed. by Hartmut Bleumer and Caroline Emmelius
  • Mary Paddock
Lyrische Narrationennarrative Lyrik: Gattungsinterferenzen in der mittelalterlichen Literatur. Edited by Hartmut Bleumer and Caroline Emmelius. Trends in Medieval Philology, 16. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 2011. Pp. ix + 404. $180.

The fifteen essays in this collection are based upon papers delivered at the September 2008 conference in Göttingen organized by Hartmut Bleumer and Caroline Emmelius (“Lyrische Narrationen—narrative Lyrik: Generische Interferenzen in Epik, Minnesang und Mystik”) to address questions of the various forms of generic interference or encroachment between narrative and lyric works. The volume is divided into four parts, beginning with theoretical models (I. “Theorien, Konzepte, historische Leitmodelle”) and moving to applied analyses of specific works and genres (II. “Episches in Lyrischem”; III. “Lyrisches in Epischem”; IV. “Lyrisch-narrative Übergänge in der Mystik”). Although the chapters are concerned predominantly with works in the German medieval tradition, several of the contributions—particularly those with a more theoretical focus—examine the question of generic interference in other European traditions, such as Latin, Troubadour, and Italian lyric and panegyric. This variety affords a richer context for the discussion as a whole, not only in terms of genres and European literary traditions, but also in terms of the scholarly perspectives of those genres and traditions. The benefit of this variety will be most apparent to those who read several of the chapters, rather than just the one or two most directly connected to one’s own field or interest. Perusing more than one chapter is encouraged by the thoughtful editing of this volume—one of its strengths—which allows the reader to “browse” without straying too far from the intended subject. With that in mind, I will discuss the essays in order of their appearance in the collection, so that the reader might get a sense of the volume’s progression.

As the authors themselves acknowledge, the questions posed in this collection are not new; rather, these presentations seek to systematically define and articulate issues that medieval literary scholars have dealt with for some time. However, making the old new again in this way challenges the reader to reconsider generic features (such as rhyming couplets in epic works) that were hitherto understood simply as a given of the genre, opening new vistas for understanding and interpretation.

The introductory essay by Bleumer and Emmelius delves into the question raised in recent years by Ursula Peters, Christian Kiening, and others of the Middle Ages as a “pre-literary” epoch. Generic distinctions are often not as sharply defined for medieval authors and audiences as our modern, institutionalized designations would suggest. This generic transgression is particularly prevalent in lyric and narrative works, in which one finds an intermingling of formal aspects of the two genres (e.g., Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy) or evidence of semantic interference (e.g., Le Roman de la Rose), or both. The tension resulting from the generic overlap is perhaps most evident in the prevalence and versatility of the “lyric I” that permeates medieval poetry. Emmelius and Bleumer’s deft synthesis of the many discussions of this pervasive figure sets the stage for the essays that follow.

The “lyric I” is the focus of the first of the collection’s five theoretical essays. “Wer spricht das Gedicht? Noch einmal zum Begriff lyrisches Ich und seinen [End Page 365] Ersetzungsvorschlägen,” by Jan Borkowski and Simone Winko, offers an expansive literature review that categorizes—indeed, tabulates—the history of positions taken on the concept of the “lyric I.” The authors propose a model of their own, by which the nature of the “lyric I” starts with the relationship of the narrative voice to the “empirical author” of the work. The authors’ illustration of the various typologies is brought into clearer focus by the citation of examples from well-known modern poetry to illustrate the various narrator-context dynamics described.

Modern works also serve to elucidate the analytical model put forth by Peter Hühn in his contribution, “Geschichten in Gedichten. Ansätze zur narratologischen Analyse von Lyrik, mit einem Ausblick auf die Lyrik Shakespeares und...

pdf

Share