Four anthologies of sixteenth-century French prose contes are examined, with the aim of elucidating the processes which informed their compilation and the reading strategies which they imply, and the relationship between the structural coherence of unframed anthologies and that of collections incorporating a frame-story structure.'Framed' collections and their structures have served as the yardstick against which unframed anthologies have been measured, and judged to be loose compilations whose component tales may be read in any order. Though the view of framed collections implied by this comparison may also be questioned, this study con-centrates on the structural aspects of four anthologies - those by Philippe de Vigneulles and Bonaventure Des P6riers, and the anonymous Parangon de Nouvelles and Parolles Joyeuses - while yet noting the major points of similarity and dissimilarity with framed collections. Evidence for the methods of construction involved and for the reading strategies which were envisaged are sought in the prolegomena, and in the general or particular structural ties made explicit or especially prominent in the stories. This search is extended through a survey of the deeper and implicit levels of consonance between stories, where related elements may be considered to have played an important part in thejuxtaposition of particular narratives or the construction of the whole text and may also influence the ways in which they will be read. Finally, the closure of each anthology is examined and the contribution of its terminal structures evaluated. The evidence of the features identified and classified leads to the conclusion that in each anthology there is a strong linear structure which, while it cannot prevent other reading strategies, encourages a predominantly sequential approach to the stories.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:704401 |
| Date | January 1987 |
| Creators | Harris, John |
| Publisher | Royal Holloway, University of London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/2e430c40-9caa-4261-a000-45303faea6b4/1/ |
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