Tristan Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Alberto Varvaro

Critical Essay by Alberto Varvaro

SOURCE: Varvaro, Alberto. “The Structure of the Tristran.” In Beroul's Romance of Tristran, translated by John C. Barnes, pp. 18-44. Manchester, Eng. and New York.: Manchester University Press/Harper & Row Publishers Inc. (Barnes & Noble Import Division), 1963.

In the following excerpt from his Beroul's Romance of Tristran, originally published in Italian in 1963, Varvaro examines the episodic structure of Tristran, noting that individual episodes are often preceded and followed by narrative pauses that serve to emphasize Béroul's theme in that section.

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Episodes and Pauses in the Narrative

Every reader of Beroul's tale will certainly have noticed those frequent pauses or—one might almost say—hiatuses in the flow of the narrative, after which the author seems to get a second wind and begin again as though he were just starting, with a voice clearer and more refreshed than would seem possible in view of the ceaseless succession of eight-syllable couplets on the written page. For instance, when...
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