Pieter Vostaert en het paragraafteken. De 'Roman van Walewein' als onvoltooid verhaal met een zelfstandige voortzetting

Abstract

A topic central to the research of the Roman van Walewein is the double authorship of the text: the thirteenth-century Arthurian romance is started by Penninc and finished by Pieter Vostaert. Though it is unknown where Penninc’s part ends and Vostaert’s begins, traditionally Penninc is viewed as the sole author of the complete romance and the one solely responsible for its structure and plot. This article claims this view is ill-supported by textual evidence and proposes that instead the Walewein should be viewed as an unfinished work with an independent continuator. As such, by combining paratextual markers, textual analysis and international Arthurian scholarship on continuation works, we offer a new interpretation for the current problems concerning the thematic divide present in the work, as well as a new point within the romance where the authorial change takes place (v. 7674).