Heiko Fiedler-Rauer, Arthurische Verhandlungen. Spielregeln der Gewalt in Pleiers Artusromanen ‚Garel vom blühenden Tal‘ und ‚Tandareis und Flordibel‘. 2003

Abstract

The Arthurian romances of the author known as the Pleier, composed during the second half of the thirteenth century, have been regarded by modern scholars in a manner consistent with the traditional appraisal of „post-classical“ literature in general – as aesthetically inferior to the great works of the Blütezeit. In recent decades, the negative view of later court literature has been called into question by a number of studies that have drawn attention to its own specific characteristics. Fiedler-Rauer's study is consistent with this broader reassessment, though in an unusual way. Rather than focusing on strictly literary or aesthetic criteria, Fiedler-Rauer proposes to find the redeeming value of Pleier's works in their socio-cultural significance, specifically in the ways in which they involve strategies (i.e. „Verhandlungen“) concerning aggression-control and management.