Basil A. Clark
Professor of English Appointed to SVSU in 1975
Ph.D. Ohio State University
M.A. University of Maine
A.B. Bowdoin College
PAPER
"The Dwarf as Chivalric Other in Arthurian Romance." New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, New College: The Honors College of Florida, 6 to 8 March 2008.
Although medieval interest in dwarfs is not limited to Arthurian romance, dwarfs typically appear in stories of Arthur and his court. Chrétien de Troyes, for example, early in Erec and Enide introduces a dwarf who beats Erec with his scourge, and, in The Knight of the Cart, he creates the dwarf who challenges Lancelot's allegiance to courtly love. Sir Thomas Malory includes a dwarf who helps Beaumains aid the ungrateful lady who seeks redress against the Red Knight. Medieval attitudes toward dwarfs had developed over cultures and centuries. My paper reviews the history of dwarfs, both real and legendary, to highlight examples of dwarfs in Arthurian romance and to read these examples through Roland Barthes's concept of myth as foils for chivalric knights. It contextualizes the dwarf in Edward Said's term as the knight's Other.