Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-x5cpj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T19:16:18.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - The Second Continuation and the Imitative Mode

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2013

Leah Tether
Affiliation:
Anglia Ruskin University
Get access

Summary

The First and Second Continuations, as we saw in the Introduction, are widely divergent in terms of the impressions they give the reader as to their respective narrative strategies, or, as Grigsby puts it, the Second Continuation ‘exhibits a chiastic relationship to its predecessor’. As such the Second Continuation raises a set of questions very different from those raised by the First Continuation, owing to what Bruckner terms the ‘deference shown to Chrétien's romance model’ by the Second Continuator in comparison with the ‘reinvention’ of the First Continuator. This chapter, therefore, aims to approach the Second Continuation by applying a similar method to that used in Chapter 3 for the First Continuation, such that it will be possible for the structures of these two texts to be efficiently compared with each other. To this end, the chapter will begin with a brief survey of redactions, date of composition and authorship which is designed to supplement that provided in the Introduction. I will also consider the evidence as to whether the Second Continuation has an ‘end’ or not, so as to designate it, provisionally, as either a Conclusion or an Extension. I shall then embark on the analysis proper by applying our definition of Continuation to the Second Continuation in order to officially confirm its status as a continuatory text. I shall complete the chapter with an analysis exploring the depictions of the merveilleux and how they may be used as a lens for gleaning a better understanding of the mechanics of Continuation within this particular text and, by extension, how the principles of Continuation may actually contribute to the merveilleux of the text.

Type
Chapter
Information
The 'Continuations' of Chrétien's 'Perceval'
Content and Construction, Extension and Ending
, pp. 142 - 164
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×