The Other World, According to Descriptions in Medieval Literature

406 Pages·1950·12.32 MB·English

by  Howard Rollin Patch

Œï)j> ©tïjer OTorib
SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES
IN MODERN LANGUAGES
• NEW SERIES ·
ESTABLISHED IN HONOR OF
THE SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE OPENING OF
SMITH COLLEGE
I

Œl)t ©tjjer Morlb
ACCORDING TO DESCRIPTIONS
IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
1
HOWARD ROLLIN PATCH
c
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS
1950
COPYRIGHT 1950
BY THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
LONDON : GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
DEDICATED TO
MARY, PRISCILLA, ROBERT,
AND HOWARD

PREFACE
THE PRESENT VOLUME is offered as the fulfillment of a pledge made
years ago to extend a preliminary study, the results of which the
author had published in an article, beyond the limits then reached
into something like a comprehensive survey of the whole field. It
soon became apparent that no one could complete such a task
alone. Only what might be called the prolegomena for the work
might be presented with suggestions for method and some indica-
tion of the extent of the material. The author hopes that he has
succeeded in clarifying certain preliminary questions and in offer-
ing a technique for the analysis of particular instances which may
be applied fruitfully beyond the limits of the documents here
examined.
It will be noticed that the method changes in the course of
this specific investigation. In the early chapters the results of the
work of other scholars are summarized, not, however, without
consulting as often as reasonable space permitted the primary
sources available. In the chapter on visions the narratives are
outlined rather fully by name, but in the chapters after that the
discussion becomes more cursory, especially where the material is
better known. In the field of the romances the principle of organ-
ization has often been that of similarity of plot structure or of
types of subject matter. It has seemed unnecessary to present here
a detailed analysis of the plots of stories which have been so often
worked over before, many times in connection with the same
questions. Here certainly many of the conclusions proposed must
be tentative, and at present one can hope to offer only a different
approach perhaps or a little further light on the road to achieve-
ment. The author enters the lists of Arthurian romance with
considerable trepidation in view of the blasting spells and be-
heading so often encountered there. As often as seemed possible
he has tried to keep clear of special theories of mythological deri-
vation where the battle of controversy is still on and to hold to
the high road of what ideas, if any, seem to have been generally
accepted.
vili PREFACE
Little could have been done in all this study without the pre-
vious researches of many scholars, and it is impossible to indicate
fully the author's indebtedness to all those who have made his
way easier. It is my happy obligation, however, to express my
gratitude here to scholars who have assisted me in dealing with
special phases of the work to which reference may not be perti-
nently made in the footnotes. Professor Agnes C. Vaughan read
the section on classical material for me with helpful suggestions.
Professor Eleanor S. Duckett went carefully over the chapter on
the literature of visions. Professor Francis P. Magoun, Jr., of
Harvard University, gave me advice on the chapter on Germanic
literature; and Professor Kenneth Jackson and Professor Fred
N. Robinson, both of Harvard, helped me with the discussion of
Celtic documents. Professor Roger S. Loomis of Columbia Uni-
versity and Mrs. Loomis set me right at many points on the
material of the romances. Professor Edna Williams of Smith
College has given me the benefit of a detailed criticism of the
method of presentation I have adopted, and I have nearly always
made use of her suggestions. But by all odds my greatest debt is
to Professor Archer Taylor of the University of California, folk-
lorist extraordinary and friend incomparable, who read over al-
most the whole manuscript with care more than once and gave
me the benefit of his learning and his wisdom at more points
than I can now represent in any adequate way. But with him, as
with all the rest, the author is bound to say that if there are
merits in this book they are often those contributed by such
assistance, and whatever blame there may be for faults is the
author's alone.
Grateful acknowledgment must go to William Morrow &
Company, Inc. for permission to use a brief excerpt from James
Hilton's Lost Horizon, to the Johns Hopkins Press and the editors
of the Kemp Malone volume for the right to use the substance of
my own article in that book, and to Random House, Inc. for per-
mission to quote the four lines from Auden's poetry. Henry Holt
8c Company has allowed me to quote various passages from Ancient
Irish Tales by Cross and Slover, and from Latin Writers of the
Fifth Century by Eleanor S. Duckett. The Columbia University
Press permits me to use the translations in Hollander's Old Norse