This study examines six texts o f the 12[sup th] and 13[sup th] centuries for the fantastic mode. It first
refutes the critical assertion that the fantastic could not exist in medieval literature, but also
establishes that most of the casually denominated "fantastic" is not. For the genuine fantastic,
both in general and in its medieval appearances, questions of reality are at most peripheral.
Rather the fantastic mode encodes itself in the narrative structure, creating ambiguity and
openness. The structural approach frees the discussion o f the fantastic from theories
predicated upon issues of thematics, reality-based analysis, and didactic categorizations o f
supernatural objects.
The first two chapters synthesize those elements from modern works of fantastic theory,
(re)deflning the fantastic based upon a semiotic approach. The introduction concentrates on
the need to reexamine the corpus of critical works addressing the fantastic. Chapter 1
summarizes the theoretical discussion in order to adjust the definition of "fantastic" as a
critical term according to a more pre-Renaissance view of reality. Chapter 2 proposes the
parallel worlds model as a structural model for the identification of the fantastic mode in texts
where the supernatural is evident, with an emphasis on fantastic space as an intermediary
locale between worlds. The last four chapters apply the parallel worlds model to a selected
corpus of six narratives. While the structures of these texts vary in length, the fantastic is
consistently manifested in a pattern that alternates between the real world, fantastic space and
the otherworld. The open-ended structure of five narratives indicates that journeys to the otherworld are rarely accomplished with a high degree of completion, and therefore the
narrative program remains incomplete.
The conclusion is a defense of the fantastic within medieval French literature,
concentrating on how the supernatural creates /otherness/, fantastic space and openness in the
narrative program. The fantastic as a powerful but elusive force within Old French romance
narratives often shifts to the merveilleioc in the end. The parallel worlds model, when used in
conjunction with other theories for identifying the fantastic, is a structural method that
emphasizes openness as a characteristic of the fantastic within medieval romance narratives.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8581 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Bolding, Sharon Lynn Dunkel |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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