Überbietendes Neuerzählen als Versuch der Vergegenwärtigung des “Wahren”

This publication starts from the known fact that medieval narrative literature usually tells what has already been told, changing only more or less minor details, according to special requirements. In analysing a number of representative works from Arthurian and heroic tradition in French and German the author shows that retelling a story could amount to a fundamental change resulting in a new work of literature. This sheds also new light on the problem of literary fiction in the middle ages and might stimulate further discussions.