L’éclairage narratif de l’amour tristanien : feux épiques et hagiographiques
The Narrative Lighting of Tristan and Ysolt’s Love: Epic and Hagiographic Fires

Summary/Abstract: Romance (“roman”) makes its debut as an experimental genrewritten in verse, whose epic stature is counterbalanced by the promotionof “courteous” values illustrating the medieval embodiment of humanexcellence and memorability. The new kind of hero – a tender,resourceful, hardy one – is matched by a suited heroine, while theopponent’s part is played by a self-justifying community that exerts itsinfluence outside the paradigm of the loving couple. Notions such astreason, truthfulness and triumph are thus revisited in a dramatic light.In Béroul’s phantasmagoria and in Thomas’s kaleidoscope of theTristanian matter, as well as in the specular structure of the Folies, themanagement of the characters’ visibility invites to a closer look. Ouranalysis provides a phenomenological approach of the universe oftheatrical performance and erotic blossoming of the mythic lovers ofCornwall by highlighting their role as players in a show of blazingshadows. The main episodes of the magic infatuation, of thecondemnation to the stake and of the protagonists’ shared death reveal aspecific usage of light as a narrative device which enables the authors toadjust their setting to the enduring influence of the epic and to theexploratory ambitions of the emerging romance.

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