Ausgrenzung und Integration arthurischer Themen im katalanischen Mittelalter (von Muntaners "Crònica", "Blandín de Cornulla" und Torroellas "La Faula" zu Martorells "Tirant lo Blanc")

Abstract

Contrary to Castilian literature, Catalan texts of the Middle Ages reject the reception of Arthurian material. In our study, we discuss the reasons for this phenomenon: The Catalan literary system does not tolerate the combination of “fields of fascination” typical of the genre; love, chivalry and the miraculous –categories necessarily associated in the Arthurian novel– are distributed in Catalan literature in different genres: While love is beginning to be the almost exclusive theme of lyric, the chronicles prefer to deal with heroic affairs. Since the miraculous remains for a long time in the field of clerical literature, the fantastic field of the Arthurian genre is gradually introduced using the techniques of sacred discourse: The Arthurian theme penetrates Catalan literature through the dream or with an allegorical mask.