Elements of the Supernatural in Three Romances of Chrétien de Troyes (thesis)

Abstract

In Erec, Yvain, and Perceval, Chrétien blends fantasy and realism in a seamless conjointure, exploiting well known supernatural motifs from various ancient sources to highlight themes relevant to contemporary life. Tropes that he borrows from Celtic legend, Classical mythology, and Christian liturgy, among other places, often form elaborate sub-texts based on their traditional meanings, which Chrétien's audience would have known. The subtlety with which he constructs the mythological programs that lie beneath the surface of his texts presents a challenge to the modern reader who must reconstruct the audience's horizon of expectations based on incomplete information and remnants of the twelfth-century canon. Nonetheless, where we do find precedents for particular tropes, these illustrate how Chrétien makes use of this layering technique. Though Chrétien often masks the supernatural by rationalization, he generally leaves just enough clues for the audience to recognize a motif, link it to a known precedent, and conjure up its conventional significance. [From the Conclusion]