Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Colophon
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The Adaptation Process
- 2 Style and Narrative Strategy
- 3 Chronological and Genealogical Structures in the Morte Darthur, the Buch der Abenteuer and the Tavola Ritonda
- 4 Narrative Plot Development in the Morte Darthur, the Buch der Abenteuer and the Tavola Ritonda
- 5 ‘The Best Knight in the World’: Adapting Character Constellations
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Note on the Texts and Manuscripts
- Bibliography
- Index
- Arthurian Studies
1 - The Adaptation Process
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Colophon
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The Adaptation Process
- 2 Style and Narrative Strategy
- 3 Chronological and Genealogical Structures in the Morte Darthur, the Buch der Abenteuer and the Tavola Ritonda
- 4 Narrative Plot Development in the Morte Darthur, the Buch der Abenteuer and the Tavola Ritonda
- 5 ‘The Best Knight in the World’: Adapting Character Constellations
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Note on the Texts and Manuscripts
- Bibliography
- Index
- Arthurian Studies
Summary
Welches hab mer volg und pessern fueg,
fraw Awentewr, nach dem wollt ich mich richten.
(Buch, I, 711, 4–5)This chapter examines some of the core structural features of the five chronographies in this study with the aim of highlighting common strategies of adaptation and identifying the organisational choices open to late medieval compilers and adaptors of Arthurian material. As discussed in the Introduction, the term ‘cycle’ may be too prescriptive to provide a helpful basis for discussing structure and genre. In contrast, the word ‘adaptation’ appositely describes a process that, in the case of these medieval authors, we can assume to have included selecting, sometimes translating, always ordering, usually pruning and frequently re-phrasing earlier Arthurian material. It is therefore a term that is sufficiently broad to encompass the heavily involved editing of authors such as Malory, as well as the sometimes less interventionist approach of the Dutch Lancelot-author, for example. In order to clarify how these five texts are constructed, this chapter will include an overview of source treatment in each work and highlight those elements of the adaptive process that are of particular interest in the individual collections. To ensure a rounded impression of the works, this will be followed in Chapter 3 by an illustrative discussion of the style in which the five adaptors present their material.
It is beyond the scope of this study to fully explicate the relationship between each work and its sources, although this relationship is of course vital to understanding the adaptive process of each author.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Malory and his European ContemporariesAdapting Late Arthurian Romance, pp. 11 - 37Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2014