Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Matthews, Alastair, 1980-

Title The Kaiserchronik : a medieval narrative / Alastair Matthews
Published Oxford : Oxford University Press, ©2012

Copies

Description 1 online resource
Series Oxford modern languages and literature monographs
Oxford modern languages and literature monographs.
Contents 1. Introduction -- 2. Time, place, and space: Constantine the Great -- 3. Motivation: Charlemagne -- 4. Perspective: Otto the Great -- 5. Strands and embedding: Henry IV and Godfrey of Bouillon -- 6. Conclusion
Summary This book presents a narratological analysis of the Kaiserchronik, or chronicle of the emperors, the first verse chronicle to have been written in any European vernacular language, which provides an account of the Roman and Holy Roman emperors from the foundation of Rome to the eve of the Second Crusade. Previous research has concentrated on the structure and sources of the work and emphasized its role as a Christian narrative of history, but this study shows that theKaiserchronik does not simply illustrate a didactic religious message: it also provides an example of how story-telling techniques in the vernacular were developed and explored in twelfth-century Germany. Four aspects of narrative are described (time and space, motivation, perspective, and narrative strands), eachof which is examined with reference to the story of a particular emperor (Constantine the Great, Charlemagne, Otto the Great, and Henry IV). Rather than imposing a single analytical framework on the Kaiserchronik, the book takes account of the fact that modern theory cannot always be applied directly to works from premodern periods: it draws critically on a variety of approaches, including those of Gérard Genette, Boris Uspensky, and Eberhard Lämmert. Throughout the book, the narrative techniques described are contextualized by means of comparisons with other texts in both Middle High German and Latin, making clear the place of the Kaiserchronik as a literary narrative in the twelfth century
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
SUBJECT Kaiserchronik. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr2001038117
Kaiserchronik. fast (OCoLC)fst01357534
Subject German literature -- Middle High German, 1050-1500 -- History and criticism
Narration (Rhetoric)
LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- German.
German literature -- Middle High German.
Narration (Rhetoric)
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780191631092
0191631094
019174218X
9780191742187
1283577240
9781283577243