RARA-AVIS: quests, romances, knights, etc.

michael david sharp (msharp@umich.edu)
Fri, 12 Jun 1998 19:03:57 -0400 (EDT) I never though my being a medievalist would become relevant in this forum,
but whadya know? Romances are (generally) quests, though half the time (or
more), the knight doesn't know Exactly what he's questing for: usu.
"adventure" of some sort. So it's goal-oriented (find adventure in order
to prove your chivalric worth in order to be able at some point to return
home, claim your inheritance, marry, reproduce, and govern/rule/administer
(maybe fight a war at some point, if there happens to be one going on))
BUT the goal is not always as clear as "find the grail" or "save my
daughter from the ogre.". . . this may explain why I like Chandler so much
-- all those novels are quests, but there's a kind of pleasure in questing
for questing's sake -- the initial goal (find my missing son-in-law) is
never the last goal, and we don't know until we're very deep (if ever)
precisely where the story's headed. Chandler is actually (as many of you
know) quite self-conscious about his use of "knights" -- whether it's the
knight in the stained glass over the Sternwood's entryway or the knights
on Marlowe's (or Dalmas's or whoever's) chessboard, he often brings them
up to make some oblique commentary on his own pursuits.

ps My proposal of a Chandler panel for next year's NEMLA conference in
Pittsburgh was accepted; I'll post an official call for papers soon.
Michael

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael D. Sharp Email: msharp@umich.edu
Department of English Lang. and Lit. Phone: (313) 761-8776
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Fax: (313) 763-3128

On Fri, 12 Jun 1998, William Denton wrote:

> On Fri, 12 Jun 1998, Frederick Zackel wrote:
>
> : The hardboiled story is a ROMANCE in the Arthurian manner. The
> : modern word "free-lancer" has its roots in the age of chivalry. A
> : free-lancer did not pledge loyalty to any liege. He operated by his
> : own personal code of honor. He is a VOICE of morality & ethics; he
> : speaks only for himself.
>
> Interesting. But couldn't you make an equally good case that they're
> quests? Romances, as I understand them, are open ended. Quests have
> a definite goal in mind: a ring, a grail, a fact. Detectives are
> after the piece of information that will reveal the criminal. When
> they get it, things close and the case is over. How passing over
> water and atoning with the father fit in, I'm not sure, but detective
> stories (hardboiled or not) and quests seem to have a lot in common.
>
>
> Bill
> --
> William Denton | Toronto, Canada | http://www.vex.net/~buff/ | Caveat lector.
> "Let's keep the party polite."
>
> #
> # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
> # The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.
>

#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.