The marvelous as allegory in Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's Lanzelet.

Abstract

This study primarily explores the role of marvelous elements, i.e., what the modern reader might call the fantastic, in the Lanzelet romance of Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, and secondarily defines and situates this literary phenomenon within the larger context of allegory. Many twelfth-century Latin Humanists, in particular those influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius, focus on the reader's imagination as the crucial channel through which marvelous imagery can uplift the soul. They argue that similes that are more horrible, outlandish, or otherwise dissimilar to the everyday physical world better reveal divine truth because they jolt the human imagination out of its carnal complacency and reorient it to spiritual concerns. An analysis of Zatzikhoven's Lanzelet, a courtly work where the marvelous figures prominently, discloses how one German romance author's views regarding the role and function of marvelous elements, albeit refashioned for a secular, courtly audience, generally parallel those of integumental theorists who allegorized such imagery in Classical texts. A broad definition of allegory, namely saying one thing and meaning another, accommodates both twelfth-century clerical literature written in Latin and contemporary chivalric literature in the vernacular, and thereby opens possibilities of comparing how each evaluates poetic language, the hermeneutic process, and the impact of certain images on an audience. However, although the qualities of a marvelous image must be specified in each individual context, they generally indicate a cultural gap between the values the narrator shares with his audience and those of an other world. While current theories of courtly romance fictionality tend to limit the role of the marvelous to capturing the audience's attention and contributing to a dynamic and entertaining exterior, the present study demonstrates that these images additionally symbolize an unseen inner world that is unrepresentable in direct terms, and veil spiritual qualities which the protagonist either seeks to shed or attain. The conclusion is reached that German romances of the High Courtly period generally reflect a Dionysian understanding of the function and capacity of the human imagination to interpret marvelous elements, and therefore participate to some degree in the Humanist trend of reading marvelous imagery allegorically.