ADAPTING ARTHUR: THE TRANSFORMATIONS AND ADAPTATIONS OF WIRNT VON GRAFENBERG’S WIGALOIS Annegret Oehme A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Carolina- Duke Graduate Program in German Studies. Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: Ruth von Bernuth Christoph Brachmann Jonathan M. Hess Laura S. Lieber Kathryn Starkey © 2016 Annegret Oehme ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Annegret Oehme: Adapting Arthur. The Transformations and Adaptations of Wirnt von Grafenberg’s Wigalois. (Under the direction of Ruth von Bernuth) The stories of King Arthur and his noble knights have fascinated audiences for many centuries and continue to being retold and fashioned to attract modern audiences. Amongst these stories is the tale of Wigalois, the son of the reputable Gawain. This dissertation traces the story of Wigalois across different languages, cultures, and media in order to show how this is a shared German-Yiddish narrative. Furthermore, this dissertations challenges traditional understanding of adaptation within a diachronic and teleological framework by uncovering dialogical and dynamic processes inherent in this narrative tradition. Using the theoretical framework of a combined Adaptation Studies and Medieval Literature Studies’ notions of unstable texts my argumentation focuses on eight specific examples: Wirnt von Grafenberg’s Wigalois (1st half 13th ct.), Italian murals from the fourteenth century, Wigoleis von dem Rade (1483/93), Viduvilt (Yiddish, 16th ct.), Johann Christoph Wagenseil’s Belehrung der Jüdisch-Teutschen Red- und Schreibart (Yiddish and German, 1715), Gabein (Yiddish, 1789), the illustrations by Ludwig Richter (before 1851), and Die phantastischen Abenteuer der Glücksritters Wigalois (Comic, German, 2011). iii This dissertation is dedicated to Andrea, the toughest lady I know, and to her wonderful sister Flurina. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to gratefully and sincerely thank my advisor, Ruth von Bernuth for her wonderful support and all the energy and time invested not just in my dissertation but my whole academic development. Further, I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor honoris causa, Ann Marie Rasmussen, who advised me on research and scholarly matters and beyond. I am also indebted to the members of my committee, Christoph Brachmann, Jonathan M. Hess, Laura S. Lieber, and Kathryn Starkey. I owe special thanks to Heidi Madden for her relentless support with accessing the material and her advice in copyright matters. Further thanks go to the wonderful CDG family, especially Bethany, Claire, Steffen, and John and all my patient proofreaders, including Elissa, Heidi, Sam, and Tres. I would also like to thank my siblings and parents for their support, especially my dad, who spent hours helping coordinating all the formalities a life in two countries brings. I would like to thank the most wonderful musician couple I know, Edelgard and Albrecht, for their unshakable trust in my potential, especially in times when I barely believed in myself. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Isabelle for her friendship, her patience with my busy schedule, and the wonderful vacations together. Finally, my gratitude for his incredible support goes to the wonderful cook and best interview coach, my dear Jesús. v TRANSLITERATION TABLE This dissertation presents the Hebrew and Yiddish references in transliteration. As no generally accepted guidelines for the transliteration of old Yiddish texts exist, I am drawing on the YIVO/ Library of Congress Systems, which I have modified for the early material. Much alike in German vernacular literature, the spellings in the Yiddish manuscripts vary. Yiddish Transliteration/ Yiddish Transliteration/ Letter Romanization Letter Romanization i, e י a, o, e silent א ey יי i אי k, kh כ /ך u או l ל ay, eye איי , איי m מ /ם b, v ב s ס g ג e ע d ד p, f פ /ף h, e ה ts צ /ץ u ו k ק v וו r ר oy וי sh, s ש z ז t ת kh ח t ט vi TABLE OF CONTENTS TRANSLITERATION TABLE ..............................................................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................vii Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Approaching Adaptation: Adaptation Studies and the Arthurian Tradition ............................. 19 Introduction............................................................................................................................ 19 1.1 Wagenseil’s Geschicht-Roman – A Translation? ............................................................ 22 1.2 Cultural Transfer and Translation.................................................................................... 30 1.3 Inter-, Transtextuality, and -mediality ............................................................................. 34 1.4 Adaptation Studies now and then .................................................................................... 43 1.5 Markers of Adaptation ..................................................................................................... 53 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 61 2. A Messianic Tale? Myth, Magic, and Religion in Wigalois, Viduvilt, and Gabejn.................. 63 Introduction............................................................................................................................ 63 2.1 Wigalois: Myth, Magic, and the Messiah ........................................................................ 69 2.2 Viduvilt: A Jewish Arthurian Knight?.............................................................................. 82 2.3 Gabejn: An Arthurian Knight Goes East......................................................................... 97 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 105 3. Adapting Gender: The Construction of Female Agency in Wigalois, Wigoleis, and Viduvilt 108 Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 108 3.1 Wigalois: On the Matter of Female triuwe (constancy) ................................................ 110 3.2 Wigoleis vom Rade: Mother Mary’s Maidens ............................................................... 127 3.3 Viduvilt: Mothers Seizing Empowerment...................................................................... 141 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 155 4. Image and Illustration: Pictorial Appropriations of Wigalois................................................. 157 Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 157 vii 4.1 Leiden Codex: Establishing a Pictorial Tradition.......................................................... 167 4.2 Wigoleis: Zooming in on the Main Hero ....................................................................... 172 4.3 Runkelstein: Retelling and Representation.................................................................... 177 4.4 Wigolais vom Rade (1841): The Generic Knight........................................................... 191 4.5 Wigalois (2011): The Adventures of a Franconian Knight............................................ 200 4.6 Knighthood in a Nutshell: The sketch in Cod. Hebr. 255.............................................. 215 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 218 Epilogue ...................................................................................................................................... 221 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 1 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Beginning of the actual tale in Wagenseil’s Belehrung................................................ 26 Figure 2: Wigalois in knightly combat ....................................................................................... 170 Figure 3: The scribe at the desk .................................................................................................. 171 Figure 4: Wigalois on the Stone of Virtue.................................................................................. 174 Figure 5: Wigalois leading the Namur campaign ....................................................................... 175 Figure 6: Wigalois following the bewitched (animal) king (Runkelstein, Sommerhaus) .......... 182 Figure 7: Wigalois being discovered; Wiglaois entering and leaving the castle ........................ 189 Figure 8: Wigalois on the Stone of Virtue.................................................................................. 194 Figure 9: Wigalois at the Stone of Virtue ................................................................................... 194 Figure 10: Wigalois slaying the dragon...................................................................................... 196 Figure 11: