Perspektivenwechsel: Willehalm-Rezeption in historischem Kontext: Ulrichs von dem Türlin Arabel und Ulrichs von Türheim Rennewart by Annelie Kreft (review)

This study (a University of Göttingen dissertation (2013) written under the direction of Klaus Grubmüller) is based on the thesis that in comparison with Wolframs Willehalm, the dominant, relatively negative assessment of two poetic extensions—Arabel (the prestory) and Rennewart (the continuation, or completion; Kreft, considering the prestory, prefers the latter “Ergänzung” over “Fortsetzung”)—is founded more on modern aesthetics than on other historically relevant factors. Kreft argues that a more justified view of these works, which have been traditionally dismissed as unoriginal, must take into consideration evidence from both the manuscript transmission and from a better understanding of the medieval reception of the works within their thirteenth-century historical context. Hence, her title, Perspektivenwechsel, can be read in two ways: 1) the shifts in perspective between Willehelm and each of its two continuations; 2) the need for a revised appraisal of the works. The latter charge involves a refocusing of research and a resultant revision in judging the merits of the later works and, ultimately, of the Willehalm Complex (or Compilation) as a whole.

Considerations in need of revision for Kreft include more adequate ways of understanding the fragmentary nature of some major medieval works. A modern aesthetic view of the fragmentary as inferior is not in concert with a more nuanced medieval perspective. In arguing for an appreciation of alterity, Kreft draws on recent research (Grubmüller, Jan-Dirk Müller, Peter Strohschneider) that deal with continuations of Gottfrid’s Tristan. Here, an understanding of the authorial intention, of social structures perceived more insightfully, and ultimately of a symbiosis of the continuations with the “original” result in a new view of the two later compositions. Kreft’s application and adaptation of the methodology to Willehalm represents a revised look at what she insists we see as individual works composed and as a trilogy compiled in and for a specific time and place. This view is grounded in a theoretical communication model that claims to respond to the reception of Willehalm in a historical-systemic, text-oriented, subtle, and unbiased manner. It rejects an assessment of Arabel and Rennewart, and hence the trilogy, based solely on modern aesthetic considerations.

The medieval transmission of the three works, some of which takes the form of luxuriously adorned codices, suggests a unified, positive view of them, as eight of the twelve complete Willehalm manuscripts locate the two extensions alongside the supposed superior piece. Frequent mentions of the three authors alongside each other in earlier sources suggest that the medieval view of each author was as at least comparable in stature. Perhaps the bundled versions contributed to the naming of the three (among others) together. A further unanswered question is the familiarity of either Ulrich with the other’s expansion. There seems to be no clear evidence in the texts to support the assumption, so the circumstances of the putting together of the trilogy remain in the dark. Since they each mention Wolfram’s incomplete Willehalm in their respective prologues, one might have expected them to point to the other work, were they familiar with them. All in all, I find Kreft’s arguments concerning the conception and reception of the trilogy somewhat circular. This does not mean it the description is inaccurate, but I am yet to be convinced it resolves the issues. Too often Kreft refers to the historical context without providing sufficient concrete aspects that are reflected in the three works, combined or alone. We should, however, welcome the attempt and the attention it deserves. Unfortunately, readers well-versed in the rich secondary literature on Wolfram will miss references to scholarship in numerous longer analytical passages where Kreft might have drawn on earlier research.

The nature of fragmentary compositions, the history of which intersect...