Conjointure and Continuation in the Old French Prose Lancelot

FAIN: FT-13606-77

Jean M. Dornbush
Brown University (Providence, RI 02912-9100)

The Old French Prose Lancelot which is virtually the first prose narrative and one of the longest works in the French language, synthesizes in cyclic form a long romance tradition in the vernacular. Conjointure describes how the romance is artfully "joined" in analagous patterns generally characteristic of romance, whereas continuation suggest how these creative organizations were put to the service of a larger collective effort and tradition. PI will compare conjointure and continuation in the Lancelot, to their use non-medieval romance narratives and in non-literary art forms to test their validity as constant of romance narrative and as characteristic of the "interlace" of medieval imaginative disciplines.