Combat is a spectacular event in the arthurian romances. Duels, tourneys and battles put on an epic theater where to show valor: an essential virtue of chivalric culture, from which it is admired and held in high regard. In locations specially created to convey an attendance of watchers, the combatants engage in compelling fights, unleashing a vast range of different emotions: mirth, sorrow, frenzy, compassion, fear, anger, euphoria, powerlessness. The soulful dramatic stream of combat grows even more intense when combined with a lyrical way of feeling: crossing each other, the glances of the ladies and those of the arthurian knights, make the martial prowesse become one with love and desire, and the fights turn into sublime and poetic circumstances. At the base of this recurring pattern is a peculiar adaptation, original of the Old French culture, of some standardized scenes borrowed from various ancient traditions, provided with the cultural references of the twelfth century and filled with nostalgia. Among these scenes can be find the looks from scenic viewpoints and the visions from the windows, the duel for the sparrow hawk, and the salvage of a «damsel in distress». The link that bonds the watchers to the heroes herein can not only redefine some episodes of the tales, but it could change as well the historical context in which the chivalric romances were born, deeply revisiting the practices of combat in regard to his public appeal. The strength and richness of emotions recounted in the observed fights are able to drag the spectators into the action and to bring them closer to the feel of knights, so much that they can lose their identity and temporarily confuse themselves into the fighters. Reflecting outside of the romantic stories through a natural mechanism of identification, this thematic core is to be considered a favored way of access to the world of chivalry.
Il combattimento nel romanzo arturiano è un evento spettacolare. Duelli, tornei e battaglie sono un teatro epico dove si mette in scena il valore: una virtù fondante della cultura dei cavalieri, oggetto della sua ammirazione più profonda. All’interno di scenari ideati per ospitare estimatori della scherma cavalleresca e spettatori di ogni tipo, i combattenti si affrontano in esibizioni di lotta avvincenti, da cui si sprigionano le emozioni più diverse: gioia, dolore, frenesia, compassione, paura, rabbia, esaltazione, avvilimento. Il flusso drammatico degli stati d’animo del combattimento raggiunge il massimo della sua intensità quando si innesta in una dimensione lirica: negli intrecci di sguardi tra le dame di corte e i campioni della cavalleria arturiana le gesta marziali e l’eroismo guerriero si fondono con l’innamoramento e il desiderio, e la battaglia diventa uno spettacolo sublime, una circostanza poetica. Al centro di questo schema ricorrente si trova un riadattamento unico e originale della cultura letteraria antico francese di una serie di scene topiche e motivi narrativi recuperati da tradizioni antiche e differenti, riambientati nell’epoca feudale e rielaborati in chiave nostalgica: le visioni dall’alto e dalle finestre, il duello per lo sparviere, la missione di riscatto della fanciulla rapita. Il vincolo che in queste scene connette gli osservatori ai protagonisti della lotta è in grado di ridefinire non solo gli episodi dei racconti, ma anche le pratiche sociali e culturali della realtà storica a cui appartengono i romanzi di cavalleria, rivisitando profondamente le consuetudini dei combattimenti in rapporto alla loro spettacolarità e sentimentalità. La forza e la ricchezza di emozioni del combattimento osservato, hanno il potere di trascinare lo spettatore nel vivo dell'azione, di avvicinarlo alla sensibilità del cavaliere, tanto da confondersi nelle sue mosse. Riflettendosi al di fuori della storia narrata con dei meccanismi di identificazione spontanea, questo nucleo tematico si configura come una via d'accesso privilegiata al mondo della cavalleria.
In bella vista: spettacolarità e teatralizzazione del combattimento cavalleresco nel romanzo antico-francese in versi di argomento arturiano (secoli xii-xiii).
HAYMAR D'ETTORY, EDOARDO
2021/2022
Abstract
Combat is a spectacular event in the arthurian romances. Duels, tourneys and battles put on an epic theater where to show valor: an essential virtue of chivalric culture, from which it is admired and held in high regard. In locations specially created to convey an attendance of watchers, the combatants engage in compelling fights, unleashing a vast range of different emotions: mirth, sorrow, frenzy, compassion, fear, anger, euphoria, powerlessness. The soulful dramatic stream of combat grows even more intense when combined with a lyrical way of feeling: crossing each other, the glances of the ladies and those of the arthurian knights, make the martial prowesse become one with love and desire, and the fights turn into sublime and poetic circumstances. At the base of this recurring pattern is a peculiar adaptation, original of the Old French culture, of some standardized scenes borrowed from various ancient traditions, provided with the cultural references of the twelfth century and filled with nostalgia. Among these scenes can be find the looks from scenic viewpoints and the visions from the windows, the duel for the sparrow hawk, and the salvage of a «damsel in distress». The link that bonds the watchers to the heroes herein can not only redefine some episodes of the tales, but it could change as well the historical context in which the chivalric romances were born, deeply revisiting the practices of combat in regard to his public appeal. The strength and richness of emotions recounted in the observed fights are able to drag the spectators into the action and to bring them closer to the feel of knights, so much that they can lose their identity and temporarily confuse themselves into the fighters. Reflecting outside of the romantic stories through a natural mechanism of identification, this thematic core is to be considered a favored way of access to the world of chivalry.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12608/40729