Working on the basis of modern narratological theories, this book introduces the reader to the poetics of epic texts from the Middle Ages and thus provides a foundation for the independent analysis of pre-modern narrative structures. The introduction takes as its starting point theories of time and space from Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and among others elucidates the concepts developed by Aristotle, Plato and Augustine. From this basis in the history of ideas, it then explains the characteristics of the fictive geography of medieval texts and their projected landscapes, which are strongly influenced by the rhetorical theories and topoi of the Western tradition. Using the categories of 'space' and 'time', this introduction provides an accessible entry to central phenomena and concepts of medieval narrative literature.

Autorentext

Uta Stoermer-Caysa, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz.