Der Narr in der deutschen Literatur im Mittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit. Kolloquium in Nancy (13.-14. März 2008) (review)

In keeping with the title of this collective volume documenting a colloquium held in Nancy during March 2008, the figure and importance of the fool in German literature is considered from varying standpoints and premises in a series of seventeen essays. The contributions are neatly divided, with the first four covering the medieval period; essays five through eight giving an overview of the sixteenth century; essays nine through fourteen ranging from the late sixteenth through the seventeenth centuries; and the final three articles covering both traditions up to the eighteenth century and the significance of the Narrenschiff and the Faustbuch. In each of these four major areas at least one of the essays has a typological emphasis featuring points that may be applied to the topics considered in related essays of the same period.

In the articles covering the medieval period, works featured for discussion are both serious and humorous in tone, and the points of focus chosen deal with textual as well as theoretical matters. In the introductory essay, Marie-Sophie Masse examines the use of the terms "tôre" and "narre" in differing versions of the Tristan story, with primary emphases placed on Eilhart's narrative. Masse argues here for a lexical development marked by linearity in Middle High German texts. The predominance of "tôre" used alternately to mean "weak-witted" as well as "foolish" is contrasted with semantic specificity in the Old French lexicon. In textual evidence from the latter linguistic area, numerous words are used to signify individual types or understandings of the fool. Based on this comparative background, Masse discusses the passage in Eilhart's Tristrant that features the return of the protagonist to Marke's court in the guise of a fool. Because the love between Tristant and Isalde signals for the audience a departure from the "feudal-höfischen Norm" (p. 15), Tristrant is naturally accorded the position of an outsider. Masse traces further the various levels of the substantive "tôre" in this text: the feigned position of playing the fool and the fool's role, which is defined as a reaction of the hero caught up in passion, are perceived for the same figure at different moments. These positions coalesce, in the argument as put forth, in one comprehensive image.

The works of Der Stricker are considered by Patrick Del Duca, again in tandem with a French text, as an exemplification of the fool's role and significance at varying levels of society. In his discussion of motifs parallel to both the Pfaffe Amis and the late twelfth-century Trubert, Del Duca places his focus naturally on the function of differing narrative forms. Whereas the fabliau with its "obszön-groteske Geschichte" is used primarily as a means of entertainment, the intent of Der Stricker's loosely connected satirical tales is seen as presenting "höhere Ansprüche an das Publikum" (p. 30). Precisely because of Der Stricker's freely connected narrative sequence in the Pfaffe Amis, Del Duca chooses two episodes to concentrate on the motif of the fool as presented differently from the audience's expectations of a typical fabliau: the "invisible painting," illustrating the fool as "einziger Weiser in einer verkehrten Welt," and the episode of the "jewel merchant," featuring as theme "die grausame Behandlung der Wahnsinnigen im Mittelalter" (p. 32). Further topics in the author's discussion are derived from Der Stricker's bîspel as transmitted outside the context of the Amis narrative. Del Duca's analysis of these examples provides significant insights with a dominant focus on theological and medical points of reference. A further development of these theses, highlighting their importance for a more expansive criticism of society, would be a welcome future development.

Those essays in the collection with an emphasis on the medieval period and the...