CoMoRoC · Comic Motifs in Romances of Chivalry of Spanish Golden Age
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-10-01 → 2020-09-30
- EU contribution
- €158,122
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
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Results in brief
Comic Motifs in Romances of Chivalry of Spanish Golden Age
In the last few years, critical studies on chivalric romances of Spanish Golden Age have stressed the importance of the uniformity of this corpus, which involves a great deal of stereotyping of the same situations, contexts, characters, even episodes, which became common motifs and recognizable formulas for the readers of the time. Repetitions (of content and form) are now considered signs that identify a specific structure and style, creating a canon that defines a literary genre where every romance has characteristics that outline its own autonomy and identity, and other characteristics that refer to a broader paradigm, so that every novel can be read as its own, but also as a literary expression of chivalric culture and tradition. The problem being addressed in the project is the identification of specific patterns in the expression of comic situations and characters, following the methodological approach employed by Stith Thompson in the study of folkloric literary forms, where motifs are defined as a central concept. The study of motifs is significant for its persistence across different cultures and different ages; moreover, motifs represent a permeable structure that is applied to different semiotic languages: the repetition and persistence of certain patterns is one of the links that connect all artistic manifestations, such as literature, visual arts, cinema, theatre, embracing also folkloric tradition, from popular ceremonies and festivities to the ancient oral tradition of short tales and exemplary stories or anecdotes. The study of motifs is therefore important to discover the roots of common images that are still part of today’s culture, art and literature. The overall objective of the project is the study of those motifs that are related to comic situations to find some categories that are frequently related to laughter in the genre of romances of chivalry; this study follows through an investigation in the poetic and rhetorical treaties written in Italy and Spain during the XVI and XVII centuries; this step is necessary to understand what was actually considered comic at the time and to define the main point of the comic theory of the time from a theoretical perspective.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Romances of chivalry are one of the most representative literary genres of Spanish Golden Age,which gained great popularity in XVI century. In the last few years, critical studies have stressed theimportance of the uniformity of this corpus, which includes many imitations, sequels, and prequels resumingthe threads of the narration where they were dropped. The main consequence is that the genre involves agreat deal of stereotyping of the same situations, contexts, even episodes, which became common motifs andrecognizable formulas for the readers. The fictitious biography of a knight-errant, a Christian prince whoestablishes his heroic credentials, finding love and power, is only the basic thread of a structure whichpresents a reiterative pattern where themes and motifs are usually combined in the same fashion. A motif isthe smallest narrative unit of a tale, that shows persistence in the tradition, where it survived with a specificidentity, and can be included in different contexts; it is a recurrent unit with a fixed narrative or descriptivecontent; generally, it concerns a specific episode or accident: the main action is consistent in everymanifestation of the motif, but details can (and do) change. The main focus of this proposal is the analysisand categorisation of comic motifs (jokes and pranks) in the corpus of chivalric novels, starting from its mostfamous cycles. The research is also meant to study poetic and literary treatises of XVI-XVII centuries, todevelop a reflection on the value, function and meaning of comic expression at the time. The comic elementsof the genre will be then compared to the parody of the romances of chivalry realised by Cervantes in DonQuixote. This research will consolidate the general paradigm of the genre, studying its morphology; theconcept of motif will be used as the interpretative key to approach both the formal aspect of the genre and itsideological background.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSIDAD DE ZARAGOZA · ZaragozaCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union