The hero's place: medieval literary traditions of space and belonging

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Place and Literature 1 Three Medieval Genres, Three Medieval Heroes 3 Spatiality and Place: Some Terminology 9 Place Studies: An Overview 13 Place in the Biblical Tradition: A Binary View 28 Holy Places: Some Notes on Medieval Pilgrimage and Crusade 31 1 The Old French Vie de saint Alexis 63 The Spatial Framework 65 Places of Earth and Heaven 98 2 La Chanson de Roland 117 The Spatial Framework 120 Places of Belonging 145 The Place of a Hero 177 3 Tristan and Iseut before the Potion 179 Tristan’s “Prehistory”: Generalities 184 Rivalin and Blanchefleur 192 Tristan’s Childhood 199 The Couple before the Potion 210 4 After the Potion 227 The Lovers at Mark’s Court 230 King Mark’s Justice 233 The Morois Forest 237 Reconciliation 248 Separate Spaces, Separate Lives 257 The Lovers’ Death 269 The Place of Poetry 281 Conclusions 285 Place’s Fate Revisited: A New Interpretation 285 Literature and Place 293 Bibliography 301 Index 315 ...