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The Book of Friends: Hagen and Heroic Traditions in the Waltharius
Ist Teil von
Journal of English and Germanic philology, 2016-10, Vol.115 (4), p.463-485
Ort / Verlag
Urbana: University of Illinois Press
Erscheinungsjahr
2016
Link zum Volltext
Quelle
Project MUSE
Beschreibungen/Notizen
In the early medieval "poem of Walter", a Latin heroic epic composed under circumstances mostly unknown to readers, there is a peculiar heroic aesthetic at work that has puzzled and delighted generations of scholars. Not all for the same reasons, of course: Waitharius criticism is notorious for endless controversies, particularly concerning questions of author, date, and literary- historical context. In this regard it fits in well with the other tantalizing scraps of the old West Germanic heroic tradition that have survived. But in other respects, especially its composite origins in the highly allusive language of classical epic and time-worn motifs of Germanic oral story- telling, it offers uniquely stimulating insights into the challenges posed by the medieval synthesis of Greco-Roman, "barbarian," and Christian cultural perspectives. Here, Flatt aims to contribute to the continuing debate on this question by highlighting the relationship of the poem's two most prominent characters, Walater and Hagen.