The Medieval Frame Narrative

Research Blog

           This blog will begin to establish what a frame-narrative (also referred to as "frame story," "frame tale," or simply "frame.") is made of, analyze the influences upon the medieval frame narrative by pre-medieval texts, and approach contentions as to what belongs within the definition of a frame-narrative.

What is a frame narrative?

          At first glance, a frame-narrative may be simply described as a group of stories within a story, but the genre proves to be a little more complex. In her article, "What's in a Frame?: The Medieval Textualization of Traditional Storytelling" Bonnie D. Irwin breaks down what a frame-narrative is in simple terms; she writes, "A frame tale is not simply an anthology of stories. Rather, it is a fictional narrative... for the purpose of presenting other narratives” (28), with the important distinction being that the larger fictional narrative, or the frame, is not the focus. The frame itself is a means to introduce the stories within, referred to as "interpolated stories" by Irwin, which become the heart of the matter. Irwin emphasizes the measure of strength of both levels of narrative, relating that the frame itself is weak and cannot stand without support from the interpolated stories, whereas the interpolated stories can exist on their own, or even appear in another context (28).

           Another factor of the frame-narrative is that “the difference… between the framing level and tale level generates some kind of meaning” (Weisberg 45). This might seem obvious, but considering the weakness of the frame itself compared to the interpolated stories, it’s an important distinction. Here Weisberg’s suggestion echoes Irwin’s assertion that the frame-narrative is not an anthology, that the frame itself is not an arbitrary format in which to collect stories, but an important context with which to relate the interpolated stories. This does not, however, contradict the fact that interpolated stories can still exist on their own or in other frames, but highlights the importance of the author’s mark on these stories within the meaning he generates between the framing level and the tale level.

           Though not an explicit rule in terms of genre, the frame-narrative's ties to oral storytelling are a significant part of both its origin and its success. The genre originated in India, the earliest known work of which is Panchatantra, first compiled between third and fifth century CE, but whose interpolated stories are believed to have already been ancient by then (Ashliman; "Panchatantra"). Those stories originated as a part of the oral tradition, and traveled west through multiple translations (Ashliman), very likely influencing such medieval works as One thousand and One Nights (Naithani 272) and Boccaccio's The Decameron (Boccaccio lix). The importance of the oral tradition is also apparent within the texts themselves, the characters within the frames of these stories become oral narrators of the interpolated stories, and suggest an oral origin of the tales themselves (Irwin 28, 39). As such, we can learn from frame-narratives about the type of stories and folktales which existed in oral mediums; frame-narratives can tell us about the values, the sense of humor, and even other prevalent contemporary genres.

           One of the genres that comes across most frequently in medieval frame-narratives is the French fabliaux, seen in both the Canterbury Tales and The Decameron (Boccaccio lxii). The fabliaux is a story which provides us with a sense of the rude and crude humor that existed in the middle ages, and its performance by minstrels ties back to the importance of the oral tradition in the genre. Its presence in European medieval frame-narratives is one of the contemporary elements of literature that distinguishes the genre from its ancestors.

Works Cited

(Sorry if the formatting is weird, I don't know how to work this gosh darned internet thing.)

Ashliman, D. L. "The Panchatantra." University of Pittsburgh. Web. 05 Nov. 2015. Boccaccio, Giovanni, and G. H. McWilliam. The Decameron. London: New York, 1995. Print. "Frame Story." Wikipedia. Web. 23 Sept. 2015. Irwin, Bonnie D. “What’s in a Frame?: The Medieval Textualization of Traditional Storytelling.”
Oral Tradition 10.1 (1995): 27-53. Web. Naithani, Sadhana. "The Teacher and the Taught: Structures and Meaning in the "Arabian Nights"
and the "Panchatantra"" Marvels & Tales 18.2 (2004): 272-85. JSTOR. Web. 5 Nov.
2015. "Panchatantra." Wikipedia. Web. 05 Nov. 2015. Pearsall, Derek Albert. The Canterbury Tales. London: Routledge, 1993. Print. "The Thousand and One Nights." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web.
05 Nov. 2015. Weisberg, David. "Telling Stories about Constance: Framing and Narrative Strategy in the
"Canterbury Tales"" Penn State University Press 27.1 (1992): 45-64. JSTOR. Web. 24
Sept. 2015.