Reading Middle Dutch Chivalric Romance: A Quantitative Analysis of the Reception Mode

Abstract

This thesis looks at the intended reader of Middle Dutch chivalric romances in verse to see if the primary reception mode of these texts was individual reading or shared reading (i.e. that someone would read it out loud to an audience). Knowing how these works were intended to be read, might offer us insight on certain stylistic and structural characteristics of Middle Dutch chivalric romance. Based on Dennis Green’s research on early German literature and Joyce Coleman’s work on late medieval English literature, the analysis will be quantitative, focused on the words denoting reception: all forms of ‘horen’ (to hear/to listen) and ‘lesen’ (to read). Not only their frequency, but also the way these words are used and the function they fulfil will be examined. It will be argued that the use of ‘horen’ and ‘lesen’ indicates that Middle Dutch chivalric romances were in general intended to be read out loud to an audience.