ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the comic functionality of 'Schwankmaren' by subjecting several very different narrative building-blocks to closer scrutiny. It deals with (ostensibly) background detail pertaining to 'time and 'space'. The main narrative events of both Die verspotteten Liebhaher and Der Schinkendieb als Teufel take place at night, and in fact the fundamental (daily) temporal distinction of night and day, which cuts right across the calendar year, is repeatedly exploited in the literary tradition. As a complement to the theme of access, the presence of certain characters in certain places contributes in no small measure to the narrative construction of comic space. The comic effect of the presence of an alien body in the marital bedchamber or bed is exaggerated in scenes in which wife, lover and husband are all present at the same time. In terms of the tradition of late medieval comic tales as a whole the evidence regarding a characteristic 'chronotope' is somewhat mixed.
