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Only a highly comparative study of medieval literature can help us to comprehend how much fundamental ideas and concepts were shared throughout the entire period. The idea of the trail as an epistemological vehicle for the protagonists proves to be critical in reaching a deep understanding of medieval values and ideals.
List of contents
Introduction
Epistemological Explorations, Orientations, and Mapping.
Forging Ahead - Trailing and Orientation in Medieval
and Early Modern Literature
1. Beowulf’s Ways to Denmark, to the Monster, Home Again,
and the Path to the Dragon’s Layer
2. Herzog Ernst: A Traveler Explores the Eastern World:
Herzog Ernst and His Efforts to Find Himself Through Travel.
Or: Trails through a Political Jungle and an Exotic World in the East
3. The Lovers in Their Quest for the Right Trail and
the Trail of Love: Marie de France’s Lais
4. Right Paths, Wrong Paths, Circuitous Paths, Dead Ends,
and Religious Epiphany in Hartmann von Aue’s Gregorius.
Crossroads in a Christian Narrative
5. The Passage Toward Happiness: Trailing Through the World
in Search of Love: Gottfried von Straßburg’s Tristan
(together with some comments on Walther von der Vogelweide
and Wolfram von Eschenbach).
Where There is a Trail, There is Love!
6. The Walk Through the Garden of Love in Medieval Literature,
with a Focus on Le Roman de la rose by Guillaume de Lorris.
Dreamful Trailing and Awakening with Surprises
7. Dante and the Infinite Way Down to Hell and Beyond:
Hope or Despair, Just as the Trail Takes Us
8. Petrarch’s Search for His Own Self, Climbing Mont Ventoux
Trails Leading Upwards, not Downwards
9. The Experience of the World in Narrative and Graphic Form
Trailing through a Medieval Depiction of the Entire Earth
Literary Explorations and Medieval Maps (Ebstorf) and Charts
Epilogue
About the author
Dr. Albrecht Classen is a University Distinguished Professor of German Studies at the University of Arizona focusing mostly on medieval and early modern literature and culture.
Summary
Only a highly comparative study of medieval literature can help us to comprehend how much fundamental ideas and concepts were shared throughout the entire period. The idea of the trail as an epistemological vehicle for the protagonists proves to be critical in reaching a deep understanding of medieval values and ideals.
