Description

The present collection covers some twenty years of research (1974-1995) dealing with the principal genres of medieval Spanish literature, especially epic, primarily from a typological rather than genetic perspective, and focusing, above all, on the question of folk (or oral) style versus written style.

The approach within the context of medieval Spanish literature is unusual in that it makes extensive use of Serbo-Croatian-language folk texts and related forms and of Russian folk material to some extent as well, with occasional treatment of other traditions, such as the Old English and Galician-Portuguese, all of which are relevant from a particular theoretical standpoint. A reply to Albert B. Lord is also included.

The relevance of the Hispanic Prisionero in calling up the earliest known South Slavic ballad (the bugarstica) is also suggested.