The Dynamics of the European Short Narrative in its Manuscript Context: The Case of Pyramus and Thisbe

Abstract

In this essay the development of thePyramusand Thisbe materialistraced from its Ovidian origins via medieval Latin rhetorical exercises, adaptations in French, German, and Dutch and its eventual inclusion in late medieval story collections,notably Chaucer's Legend of Good Wo men and Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris. Finally, the dynamicsofthis universal lovestory is illustrated by the recontextualisation of Thisbe'stale in the Findern manuscript. Attention is paid not only to the meanings generated by new rewritings but also to the manuscript context of each successivev ersion,and consideration is given to possible compilatorial intentions as well as the ways in which its co-texts might haveconditioned its reception.Between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries the French-, German-, Dutch-, and English-speakingareas of Europe shared acommon literary culture manifesting itself, most obviously, in the adaptation of short and longer narratives into different languages.