TNTL 111

Walter Haug

Kombinatorik und Originalität. Der Roman van Walewein als nachklassisches literarisches Experiment

Abstract - The Roman van Walewein is a postclassical Arthurian romance. This means that the hero does not pass through the traditional crisis but perseveres unchanged through a series of knightly adventures. Still, the romance represents an experiment with a new structure. This structure is derived from a well-known folk-tale, where the hero achieves his goal after a series of failures. Walewein, however, has to remain blameless throughout his adventures, a fact that created considerable narrative difficulty for the authors. They balanced the loss of drama by the insertion of adventures taken from the Arthurian tradition. Furthermore, Walewein criticizes and transcends the model of the Tristan story, so that he emerges not only as the perfect fighter but also as the perfect lover.