Romance Bibliotopies
摘要
This chapter examines the “bibliotopies” of medieval romance, i.e. the various ways in which the genre—understood as a social and aesthetic production that exists within concrete economic and social contexts—connects to space. Examinations of the geographical origin of extant manuscripts are studied alongside concrete conditions of medieval composition, literary circulation, and concrete reception. Medieval romance has deeply rooted, complex connections with the places where it was produced, copied, learnt, recited, and consumed. Due to lack of data, the bibliotopies of romance may well be elusive, but the recognition of romance’s diverse connections to space remains a necessary requisite for any study of the genre’s inscription in space. Moving from the material existence of manuscripts to the study of romance inspiration, the chapter proceeds to tackle the connections between romance motifs and genres and space, and to underscore the essentially mobile and complex nature of the bibliotopies of medieval romance.