Classen explores the secret as a compelling narrative device in medieval texts. His focus is not on magical and religious elements per se, but rather on the ways in which medieval writers grappled with unknowable, or secret, objects and events. Classen discusses not only characters who wield secret knowledge and powers, but also those affected by, but not privy to, those secrets. The comprehensive introduction defines the significance of secrecy throughout literary studies, and the chapters that follow are devoted to an array of writers and genres. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Choice Reviews

Albrecht Classen, in The Secret in Medieval Literature, explores the concept of the secret, a hidden world where things happen that are supposed to be removed from public awareness, from the knowledge of the uninitiated or protected from abuses by the masses. Specifically, in a wide variety of texts, including medieval classics such as the Lais of Marie de France and Wolfram van Eschenbach’s Parzival, he studies the function of the secret as a narrative motive and not just as an explanation for faintly mysterious phenomena. This analysis of pre-modern literary works from the perspective of strange or inexplicable incidents and objects that move the account forward is a unique approach. It is not another book about religion, magic, or mysticism but rather a fresh look at what was considered privileged knowledge and how that knowledge alluded protagonists in medieval works.

Connie L. Scarborough, Texas Tech University

Albrecht Classen’s The Secret in Medieval Literature examines a particular phenomenon that has a place in the domains of philosophy, medicine, and theology just to name a few, but his concern is how it becomes an aspect to power narrative across the scope of medieval European literatures. Through very detailed analysis of plots, Classen demonstrates the intractable quality of the secret. It is recognized, but the authors typically do not sketch out exactly what they are. Will readers ever know? Most often the audience will never know the secret even when it appears before their very eyes as a materially represented object. Classen has discovered one of the most powerful drivers of medieval narrative, but it will remain what it is: the secret.

Daniel F. Pigg, University of Tennessee at Martin