The topos of the “other world” in Medieval French poems about the birth of the Swan Knight
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2025-5-161-173
Abstract
The article examines the topos of the “other world” in two versions of the 13th-century Old French poem “La Naissance du Chevalier au Cygne”, which is part of the cycle concerning the First Crusade. The typologically early version “Elioxe” refers to a relatively specific location of the kingdom of the father of the Swan Knight; at the same time, the space from which the hero’s mother originates – specifically, a mountain where a fountain is situated – possesses the attributes of the “other”, wondrous world. The action of the poem “Béatrix”, which developed at a later stage in the plot’s existence, conversely unfolds in a remarkable world – a fairy-tale kingdom on an island surrounded by the sea. The article shows the semantic proximity of locations such as a mountain (at the foot of which a river or a fountain can be found and on the summit of which a castle can be situated) and an island (on which a mountain or a castle is located). The author of the article complements her analysis by examining the plot of Melusine, which emerged around the same time as the “plot of the Swan Knight” and shares several plot parallels with it, as well as the Arthurian novels that feature the topos of the “other world”, including a description of both a mountain and an island. The choice of one of the options for embodying the topos of the “other world” relies on the setting of the action: whether it occurs in the sacred realm itself or at the boundary between the “other” and conditionally “historical” worlds. In the poem “Elioxe”, the mother of the Swan Knight, having descended from the mountain, leaves the “other” space and marries a mortal. In the poem “Béatrix”, which represents a relatively late stage in the existence of the “plot of the Swan Knight”, both the hero and his parents are endowed with a sacred nature, and the “other world” is depicted as an island on which the royal castle and other significant locations for the plot are situated.
About the Author
O. V. Popova
Russian State University for the Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Olga V. Popova, Cand. of Sci. (Philology)
bldg. 6, bld. 6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125047
References
1. Abramova, M.A. (2022), “The novel Jaufré: an occitan parody of Arthurian universality?”, in Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 9. Filologiya, no. 5, pp. 92–101.
2. Abramova, M.A. (2022), “The ‘other world’ image specific in the French chivalric romance of the 12th – 13th centuries”, Folklore: Structure, Typology, Semiotics, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 34–44.
3. Boutet, D. (2000), “La montagne dans la chanson de geste: topique, rhétorique et fonction épique”, in Thomasset, C.-A. et James-Raoul, D., eds., La montagne dans le texte médiéval: entre mythe et réalité, Presses de l’Université de Paris Sorbonne, Paris, France, pp. 227–242.
4. Brekilien, Ya., (1981), La mythologie celtique, J. Picollec, Paris, France.
5. Curtius, E.R. (2020), Evropeiskaya literatura i latinskoe Srednevekov`e [European literature and the Latin Middle Ages], vol. 1, Izdatel’skii dom YaSK, Moscow, Russia.
6. James-Raoul, D. (2000), “Mont et merveilles romanesques”, in Thomasset, C.-A. et James-Raoul, D., eds., La montagne dans le texte médiéval: entre mythe et réalité, Presses de l’Université de Paris Sorbonne, Paris, France, pp. 255–284.
7. Lecouteux, C. (1998), Au-delà du merveilleux. Essai sur les mentalités au Moyen Âge, Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, France, pp. 163–176.
8. Lecouteux, C. (2008), “Der mythische Aspekt des Berges im Mittelalter”, in Müller, U. and Wunderlich, W., eds., Burgen, Länder, Orte, UVK Verlagsgesellschaft, Konstanz, Germany, SS. 109–120. (Mittelalter-Mythen; 5)
9. Le Goff, J. (2011), Geroi i chudesa Srednikh vekov [Héros et merveilles du Moyen-âge], Tekst, Moscow, Russia.
10. Meletinskii, E.M. (1983), Srednevekovyi roman: Proiskhozhdenie i klassicheskie formy [Medieval romance: Origins and classical forms], Nauka, Moscow, USSR.
11. Nelson, J.A., ed. (1977), La naissance du Chevalier au Cygne, Beatrix, Mickel. E.J., ed., Elioxe, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, USA, London, UK. (The Old French crusade cycle; vol. 1)
12. Peters, U. (1999), Dynastengeschichte und Verwandtschaftsbilder: die Adelsfamilie in der volkssprachigen Literatur des Mittelalters, Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen, Germany. (Hermaea. Neue Folge; 85)
13. Thiébaux, M. (1974), The stag of love: The chase in medieval literature, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, USA, London, UK.
Review
For citations:
Popova O.V. The topos of the “other world” in Medieval French poems about the birth of the Swan Knight. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2025;(5):161-173. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2025-5-161-173
Views:
6
Email this article 