Imagining the text : ekphrasis and envisioning courtly identity in Wirnt von Gravenberg's Wigalois / by James H. Brown.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-240) and index.

Print version record.

Acknowledgments; List of Illustrations; Introduction: Imagining the Text; Wigalois and Ekphrasis; What Was Ekphrasis?; Wigalois: Summary and Reception; Chapter Outline; Part 1; Imagining the Text; Chapter 1; Ekphrasis as a Structuring Device; Dividing the Narrative; Ekphrasis as a Structuring Device; Setting the Stage: The Magic Belt; From Boy to Man, Part One: The Stone of Virtue; From Boy to Man, Part Two: The Golden Wheel; Through God All Things Are Possible: Japhite's Tomb; The Final Stages: Larie's Tent; Conclusion; Chapter 2; Ekphrasis as an Integrative Device.

Ekphrasis and Integration Harmonizing Families and Fictional Worlds: The Magic Belt; Arthurian and Faerie Realms in Wigalois; Integrating the Arthurian and the Wondrous; The Stone and the Arthurian Circle; The Golden Wheel and Religious Elements; Triuwe and Riuwe: Japhite's Tomb; The Tent and the Final Harmonization; Conclusion; Chapter 3; Ekphrasis and Courtly Identity; Courtly Identity and Self-representation; Courtly Ideals and Romance; Ekphrasis and Courtly Identity in Wigalois; Ekphrastic Belts and the Construction of Courtly Femininity.

The Magic Belt and Chivalric Masculinity The Stone and Storytelling; Gwigalois's Wheel and the Literary Uses of Heraldry; The Tomb's Inscription and Courtly Literary Culture; Larie's Tent, Courtliness, and Virtual Splendor; Conclusion; Part 2; The Text Imagined ; Chapter 4; Ekphrasis and Visualization Strategies in the Illustrated Wigalois Manuscripts; Heraldry and Integration: Manuscript B; Basic Description of the Manuscript; Heraldic Visualization; Integration in Manuscript B; Didactic hövescheit: Codex Donaueschingen 71; Basic Description of the Manuscript.

The Role of the Captions Deictic and Didactic Visualization; Conclusion; Chapter 5; Re-imagining Narrative in Wigoleis vom Rade; The Strassburg Wigoleis and Its Layout; A Reconceived Text for a New Audience; A Question of Literary Quality?; Different Audiences; Reading and Literacy; Visuality, Structure, and Narrative; Eyewitnessing and a New Attitude toward Description; Woodcut and Caption: Guiding and Linking; Narrative and Illustrative Simplification; Envisioning Courtliness in the Strassburg Woodcuts; Conclusion; Chapter 6.

Literature and Legitimization: The Wigalois Frescoes at Runkelstein Castle Material Visualizations of German Vernacular Literature; The Vintler Brothers and the Murals at Runkelstein; Ernst Karl von Waldstein and the Wigalois Frescoes; Description of the Wigalois Images at Runkelstein; Why Wigalois? Possible Interpretations; Conclusion: Understanding the Book; Bibliography; Index; Illustrations.

James Brown examines ekphrasis-the verbal representation of a visual representation-in Wirnt von Gravenberg's thirteenth-century Arthurian romance Wigalois, one of the most popular and enduring stories in the Middle High German literary tradition. Through close reading of the text and examining illustrated Wigalois manuscripts, early print editions, and frescoes, Brown explores how ekphrasis structures the narrative, harmonizes potential conflicts in the text, and contributes to the construction of courtly identity. Imagining the Text demonstrates that the vibrant symbiosis of word and image is crucial to the poem's sustained popularity for more than six hundred years, and contributes to the history of the book and to the study of medieval and modern modes of perception.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide