Eroticon – A Comparative Approach of Visual Poetics in Amorous Fiction

Mihaela URSA


Abstract:

The paper proposes the concept of eroticon in order to better define the unique nature of love fiction. Unlike other forms of prose, erotic or amorous fiction use the impact of visual poetics in order to describe the love situation. The demonstration first states the presence of a reccurent scene (the scene of the two lovers contemplating each other from a window), and then develops a detailed analysis of the scene in Chrétien de Troyes’ Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart. With arguments from narratology, reading-response theories and theories of fictional worlds, the paper investigates the potential of amorous fiction in visual communication.

Keywords: erotic fiction, possible worlds, narrative theories, the philosophy of “as if”, useful fictions, Lancelot, Chrétien de Troyes, Guinevere, Tiresias, Ovid, Metamorphoses

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