Working on the basis of modern narratological theories, this book introduces the reader to the poetics of epic texts from the Middle Ages and thus provides a foundation for the independent analysis of pre-modern narrative structures. The introduction takes as its starting point theories of time and space from Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and among others elucidates the concepts developed by Aristotle, Plato and Augustine. From this basis in the history of ideas, it then explains the characteristics of the fictive geography of medieval texts and their projected landscapes, which are strongly influenced by the rhetorical theories and topoi of the Western tradition. Using the categories of a ~spacea (TM) and a ~timea (TM), this introduction provides an accessible entry to central phenomena and concepts of medieval narrative literature.

Spatial thinking plays an important role in medieval literature and culture. This is not only demonstrated by the large world maps and theological models of the cosmos in medieval times, but also by the spatial structure and motifs of the narrative literature. The articles in this volume explore how spaces are described in narratives from the 9th to the 16th century - e.g. the world model in the Evangelienbuch of Otfrid of Weissenburg and the spatial semantics in the courtly romances and the landscape descriptions in Provenal poetry. The book sketches a fascinating panorama of imaginary spaces in the Middle Ages.