The Fantastic in French Arthurian Romances: Discourse Renewal and Timelessness
Open Access
Author:
Perrais, Stéphanie
Graduate Program:
French
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
June 21, 2007
Committee Members:
Norris Joiner Lacy, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Kathryn Marie Grossman, Committee Member Christine Clark Evans, Committee Member Vickie Ziegler, Committee Member
Keywords:
medieval French arthurian studies Chrétien de Troyes fantastic marvelous
Abstract:
This dissertation explores the remarkable longevity of the Arthurian legend and emphasizes the role played by the fantastic in its survival through the centuries.
It provides theories about the linguistic construction of both the marvelous and the fantastic and establishes the importance of the openness and timelessness of fantastic discourse for the renewal of the Arthurian legend.
The writing techniques of Chrétien de Troyes are identified as the catalyst for endless retellings. The immediate rewritings of his romances offer a glimpse of his contemporary audience, and its uneasiness concerning the questions raised by the fantastic and left unanswered. The lack of signification in the concepts used by Chrétien de Troyes induces a perpetual quest for meaning and closure, which ultimately becomes a quest for a transcendental signified.
The dissertation proposes that the fantastic elements in Arthurian romances are indicative of a mythical substructure that is cyclical and therefore timeless. Those mythical elements, coupled with the initial lack of meaning allow for the Arthurian legend to renew itself ad finitum. The fantastic is a permanent function of the human imagination, shared by both the medieval and the modern men.
