ABSTRACT
Der jungere Titurel is a poetic achievement of daunting proportions. It is a formally and linguistically complex work of vast, almost encyclopedic learning, consisting of over 6,000·stanzas. The plot embraces more than a millennium of human history and follows its heroes through adventures on two continents and in the mythical Grail realm. We witness the founding of the Grail kinship by Titurel and later the building of the temple. (Albrecht's elaborate description of this architectural fantasy, stanzas 329-439, has been the subject of considerable debate. It has been claimed to embody architectural principles of both the late Romanesque and the high Gothic. It has been interpreted as the representation of a mystical experience of space and as the literary model for actual medieval buildings.) The central plot traces the search for an elusive object, not the Grail as in Parzival, but a bejeweled hound's leash. Here, the precious stones spell out a narrative, as in Titurel, but they also relate an allegorized lesson in virtue. A huge cast of characters is involved as well, including nearly all the names appearing in Wolfram's Parzival and many from Willehalm, and the story is enriched by religiOUS and natural scientific lore drawn from a host of sources, most not yet identified. The tale is laced with a didactic commentary.
