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Author ORCID Identifier
N/A
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Comparative Literature
Year Degree Awarded
2014
Month Degree Awarded
February
First Advisor
Maria Tymoczko
Subject Categories
Celtic Studies | Comparative Literature | Medieval Studies | Scandinavian Studies | Spanish Literature
Abstract
This dissertation addresses a significant gap in Arthurian scholarship by adapting postcolonial and translation theory to analyze Medieval Arthurian literature from the peripheral cultures that interacted throughout the Irish Sea and the Atlantic littoral. This project uses a similar approach as that traditionally employed in Mediterranean studies to investigate Arthurian texts and related materials from the Celtic (Irish and Welsh), Scandinavian (Norwegian and Icelandic), and Iberian (Castilian and Catalan) cultural peripheries to point out both the local and transcultural roles of these texts. By highlighting that Arthurian literature was not only transmitted from Britain through France to the rest of Europe, but was instead produced and read through a Pan-European network, it is demonstrated that Medieval Arthurian literature is a product of the multicultural interactions that shaped medieval Europe. Moreover, a focus on the relationship between kings and their subjects, both male and female, becomes a medium to interrogate the function Arthurian stories played in differing constructions of sovereignty. In order to understand that relationship, it is necessary to analyze these Arthurian texts through their different cultural and historical contexts and how they were shaped by and in turn shaped their environments.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/5490896.0
Recommended Citation
Otaño Gracia, Nahir I., "ARTHUR’S HEIRS: SITUATING MEDIEVAL WELSH, SPANISH, AND SCANDINAVIAN TEXTS IN THEIR LITERARY AND HISTORICAL CONTEXTS" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations. 122.
https://doi.org/10.7275/5490896.0
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/122
Included in
Celtic Studies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Medieval Studies Commons, Scandinavian Studies Commons, Spanish Literature Commons