The Visit to the Perilous Castle: A Study of the Arthurian Modifications of an Irish Theme
Roger Sherman Loomis
Discussion of the Homeric question, Carolingian epic, ballads, and Arthurian romance remains, seems destined to remain for some time a conflict between two hypotheses. One may be called traditionalist hypothesis; it emphasizes origins narrative themes in oral traditions more or less remote from first recorded versions, attempts trace genetic relations surviving versions explain differences them on assumption that originals intermediate stages both are lost. The second hypothesis literary craftsmanship, minimizes denies existence any tradition, finds source our texts either other written creative imagination author, one version another by artistic rational motive controlling later author. A classic school is Professor Gilbert Murray's Rise Greek Epic ; contrary M. Bédier's Légendes Épiques. relationship story-patterns their sources; craftsmanship intellectual processes which create modify story-patterns.
Publications of the Modern Language Association of America