In this Chapter we shall have to consider the Gawan narrative with regard to the problem of recognition. The six Books taken up by this narrative form a self-contained whole by being devoted primarily to Gawan, while Parzival steps more into the background, a change of focus justified explicitly by the narrator in the prologue-like introduction to Book VII (in which he defends his turning aside from des mœres hêrren Parzivâl (338,7) for a time) and referred to again at the close of Book VIII when we are told that the narrative is returning an den rehten stam, 678,30. For these six Books the narrative concentrates on Gawan, he is the main focus of attention and it is, often explicitly, from his point of view that events are presented or assessed, no longer from Parzival's.

Since as many as six Books have to be covered in this one Chapter, it is advisable to abandon the discussion of general points before looking at the separate encounters (the method followed elsewhere with regard to Gahmuret and Parzival). Instead, it will be more manageable to organise the material under three locations where the action takes place (Bearosche, Schanpfanzun, Schastel Marveile), two separate encounters of Gawan (with Urians and Gramoflanz) and one theme which has reverberations throughout all the latter part of the Gawan narrative (Gawan's surprise).