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Spte mittelhochdeutsche
Artusromane: 'Lanzelet', 'Wigalois', 'Daniel von dem Blhenden Tal', 'Diu
Crne'. Bilanz der Forschung 1960–2000. Von Markus Wennerhold.
Wrzburger Beitrge zur deutschen Philologie, XXVII. Wrzburg: Knigshausen
& Neumann, 2005. Pp. 364. €49.80.
Medieval German research has long realized that the traditional "classical"
triad of Hartmann von Aue, Gottfried von Straßburg, and Wolfram
von Eschenbach, accompanied by a handful of contemporary courtly love
poets, such as Heinrich von Morungen, Reinmar der Alte, and Walther von
der Vogelweide, were not the ultimate and exclusive Middle High German
poets worthy of examination and study. But the difficulties with so-called
"post-classical" medieval romances continue to vex scholarship, as impressively
demonstrated by Markus Wennerhold in his Wrzburg doctoral dissertation,
submitted and accepted in 2002 and slightly revised and updated for publication
in 2004. Traditionally pejorative terms such as "epigonal" are no longer
en vogue or applicable for romances such as those dealt with in Wennerhold's
monograph. Nevertheless, the complexity of their narrative content, their
sheer volume, and their noteworthy differences from Hartmann's or Wolfram's
romances in many respects, not to speak of the dearth of modern critical
editions, continue to represent major hurdles for academics and lay readers
alike. Wennerhold does not attempt to establish new perspectives for Ulrich
von Zazikhoven's Lanzelet, Wirnt von Gravenberc's Wigalois,
the Stricker's Daniel von dem Blhenden Tal, and Heinrich von dem
Trlin's Diu Crne, or to develop a comprehensive and new aesthetic
for the interpretation of these verse romances. Instead, he offers a detailed
discussion of the relevant research published between 1960 and 2000 that
treats a wide spectrum of aspects relevant for each text. For each romance
he focuses on the following topics as the common structural pattern of
his research review: text tradition, dating, linguistic features, narrative
structure, sources, and reception. Subsequently he turns to more detailed
issues, such as the concept of the protagonist, the role of the comic,
genre, particular figures, parody, or he highlights major chapters of
each text, as discussed by scholars during those forty years.
Albrecht Classen
University of Arizona
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