5 - Generic crossroads

Summary

By “generic crossroads,” I refer to those moments in the various works in which the author shows a deliberate decision to turn his text, almost like a ship changing course, towards a particular narrative or thematic goal – a particular genre, as it were – or, as in the case of Boccaccio, away from a kind of literature and towards the “horizon of expectations” of his own audience. It seems fair to think of these moments of change or development in geographic terms – crossroads – given that Floire and Blancheflor is a world story whose most constant feature is, in fact, travel.

THE STRANGEST TREASON: GENEALOGY AND TEXTUAL LINEAGE

As I have shown throughout this study, the texts of Floire and Blancheflor employ features of various genres that propel the texts in different generic directions. At times the changes are not generic in nature, but of degree. Consider, for example, Tony Hunt's analytical comparison of Chrétien's Yvain, Hartmann's Iwein and the Middle English Ywain and Gawain. Hunt demonstrates that the orientation of the three works differs, although much of the material remains the same: the two major themes of love and chivalry undergo a process of renegotiation that results in endings of very different tones. Hartmann's work shows love and chivalry to be united in political responsibilities, love is subordinated to chivalric trowthe in Ywain and Gawain, and Chrétien's view of love and chivalry is refracted through his use of ambiguity and irony (110).