Kommunikation in Wolframs 'Parzival': Eine Untersuchung zu Form und Funktion der Dialoge.(Book Review)

Publication: The Modern Language Review

Publication Date: 01-APR-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Modern Humanities Research Association

Kommunikation in Wolframs 'Parzival': Eine Untersuchung zu Form und Funktion der Dialoge. By ANDREAS URSCHELER. (Deutsche Literatur von den Anfangen bis 1700, 38) Bern, Berlin, and Brussels: Peter Lang. 2002. 315 pp. 55.20 [euro]. ISBN 3-906768-89-9 (pbk).

The author of this book discusses the importance and functions of conversation and dialogue in the composition of Wolfram's Parzival, an undertaking certainly justified by the fact that direct speech, for example, takes up over forty per cent of the total work. He combines two approaches: literary (an aesthetic evaluation of dialogue) and linguistic (based on recent preoccupation with oral communication).

The book falls into four chapters, subdivided into an often unclear number of sections and subsections. The first chapter deals with forms of conversation and is mainly devoted to the three standard types (direct, indirect, and reported speech), distinguished by the role played by the narrator. It concludes with...

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