Biography Essay

Gottfried von Straßburg was highly regarded by writers who came after him, and his reputation was never greater than it is today. His work, like that of most writers of the high medieval period, was lost from sight with the advent of the Renaissance and was only rediscovered in the latter part of the eighteenth century. During the first half of the eighteenth century Gottfried's Tristan und Isolde (circa 1210; translated as The Story of Tristan and Iseult, 1889) was appreciated for its virtuosity, but the moral codes of the day, coupled with the belief that the actions and statements of literary figures represented the philosophy of the author, led to condemnation of the work on moral grounds. Today Tristan und Isolde is recognized not simply as the height of stylistic virtuosity in its genre but as a masterpiece of characterization, a subtle and moving portrayal...