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Medieval Textualities and Intergeneric Form Donald Maddox R ECENT SCHOLARSHIP has shown that medieval texts are gen­ erally less amorphous than some early modern appraisals had sug­ gested. Such demonstrations, however, have usually been limited to a few well-known texts or to one narrative type. There remains a larger question, whose potential for allowing us to delve into the relationships between textuality and culture makes it well worth the asking: do dif­ ferent types of medieval texts embody similar forms of comprehensive organization? The question is almost never addressed in medieval docu­ ments. While medieval textual construction, whether the product of orality or of writing, clearly involved the attentive conjoining of relatively localized, discrete elements (phrases, figures, and episodes) according to specified norms, medieval poets are taciturn concerning normative pre­ conceptualizations of the maximal dimensions of textuality. Yet we do find evidence, in manuscript compilations as well as in individual texts, of global patterns of textual organization. I propose to consider one such pattern, replicated in the global morphology of many Old French courtly romances, which also occurs in texts of different generic types. Such intergeneric usage, I shall maintain, suggests that this maximal form may implicate a larger cultural dimension in preconditioning the processes of textualization. The pattern is that of bipartition, which a considerable body of research has identified in the structuring of many medieval nar­ ratives. In its basic format, two structurally and/or thematically related segments are conjoined and mediated by a crisis of varying length. In the latter, prior developments are typically assessed negatively, so that appropriate adjustments may be worked through in the second and final segment.1 This configuration is especially well represented by twelfth-century verse narratives, courtly romances in particular.2A verse romance con­ structed along these lines, as are those of Chrétien de Troyes, integrates matière according to a meaningful overall design that conveys a global sens. 3The crises in Chrétien’s bipartite plots fall into two distinct subtypes . In one, exemplified in Erec, Yvain, and both parts of Le Conte du graal, the hero becomes aware of his previous shortcomings through the negative assessment provided by another character;4in the other, exem­ 40 W in t e r 1993 M addox plified by Cligés and Le Chevalier de la charrete, the crisis allows con­ cealment of the hero’s adulterous liaison from his principal rival.5 In both subtypes, the crisis confronts the hero with a significant problem that compels a resolution. This major inadequacy could perhaps be described in very general terms as a lack o f mastery o f the realm. Coor­ dinating two orders of desire, the one erotic and previously fulfilled to some degree, the other involving familial or collective concerns as yet unresolved, the crisis discloses the necessity to initiate a process similar to the one that had led to its inception.6 In each case, the crisis shifts the hero’s concerns from self to realm, while linking the initially abortive format of heroic adventure with its modified repetition. In terms of cultural dynamics, Chretien’s bipartite fictions generally portray a dual process: the first phase involves individualistic chivalric exploits, while the second redirects the energies of the chivalric hero toward service, in principle if not always in fact, to the feudal order. This bipartition in Chrétien’s works may explain in part why they are often misread as idealizing fictions of chivalric individuation. According to this reading, the bipartite format brings about a positive resolution of the conflict disclosed by the crisis, thus creating a dual narrative econ­ omy to illustrate exemplary chivalric service to the Arthurian com­ munity.7 However, consideration of Chrétien’s œuvre as a whole sug­ gests that the chivalric ethic set forth according to a bipartite scheme in individual works is, within the larger textual ensemble, progressively shown to be flawed.8As the Arthurian ideal is increasingly tarnished, the paradigm of heroic achievement is also called into question, and the rift between Arthur and chivalry, including the heroes themselves, is to vary­ ing degrees widened, providing an essentially negative critique of late feudal institutions. From these works one sees that...

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