Performing Medieval Narrative

by Vitz, Evelyn Birge; Regalado, Nancy Freeman; Lawrence, Marilyn

• ISBN13: 9781843840398
• ISBN10: 1843840391
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-06-30
• Publisher: Ds Brewer

Summary

This book provides the first comprehensive study of the performance of medieval narrative, using examples from England and the Continent and a variety of genres to examine the crucial question of whether - and how - medieval narratives were indeed intended for performance. Moving beyond the familiar dichotomy between oral and written literature, the various contributions emphasize the range and power of medieval performance traditions, and demonstrate that knowledge of the modes and means of performance is crucial for appreciating medieval narratives. The book is divided into four main parts, with each essay engaging with a specific issue or work, relating it to larger questions about performance. It first focuses on representations of the art of medieval performers of narrative. It then examines relationships between narrative performances and the material books that inspired, recorded, or represented them. The next section studies performance features inscribed in texts and the significance of considering performability. The volume concludes with contributions by present-day professional performers who bring medieval narratives to life for contemporary audiences. Topics covered include orality, performance, storytelling, music, drama, the material book, public reading, and court life.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vii
Contributors	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	1	(14)
Part I Medieval performers of narrative and their art
Sioned Davies
"He was the best teller of tales in the world": Performing medieval Welsh narrative	15	(12)
Joyce Coleman
The complaint of the makers: Wynnere and Wastoure and the "misperformance topos" in medieval England	27	(14)
John Ahern
Dioneo' s repertory: Performance and writing in Boccaccio's Decameron	41	(20)
Part II Medieval performance and the book
Keith Busby
Mise en texte as indicator of oral performance in Old French verse narrative	61	(12)
Evelyn Birge Vitz
Erotic reading in the Middle Ages: Performance and re-performance of romance	73	(16)
Marilyn Lawrence
Oral performance of written narrative in the medieval French romance Ysaÿe le Triste	89	(14)
Nancy Freeman Regalado
Performing romance: Arthurian interludes in Sarrasin's Le roman du Hem (1278)	103	(20)
Part III Performability and medieval narrative genres
Brian J. Levy
Performing fabliaux	123	(18)
Adrian P. Tudor
Preaching, storytelling, and the performance of short pious narratives	141	(14)
Kenneth Varty
Reading, reciting, and performing the Renart	155	(12)
Karl Reichl
Turkic bard and medieval entertainer: What a living epic tradition can tell us about oral performance of narrative in the Middle Ages	167	(14)
Part IV Perspectives from contemporary performers
Benjamin Bagby
Beowulf, the Edda, and the performance of medieval epic: Notes from the workshop of a reconstructed "singer of tales"	181	(12)
Linda Marie Zaerr
The Weddynge of Sir Gawen and Dame Ragnell: Performance and intertextuality in Middle English popular romance	193	(16)
Anne Azéma
"Une aventure vous dirai": Performing medieval narrative	209	(14)
Afterword	223	(2)
Works cited	225	(20)
Index	245