Geografía de la búsqueda: tierras baldías y otros espacios

Abstract

In the present work we propose a reflection on the way in which space is constructed within the narrative, more particularly within the framework of one of its key structuring schemes, the quest. We will illustrate our purpose through two works that correspond to two key moments in the development of narrative in France, in which we propose to identify a kind of symbolic geography. The first of them is The Tale of the Grail, created by Chrétien de Troyes at the end of the 12th century: Perceval, locked in an isolated land –wasteland–, undertakes a quest in which he does not seem able to escape its negative influence, until finally encountering its beneficial and restorative face. In a second moment we will move to the 16th century, to focus on Rabelais and the founding action of his heroes, shown through his dialogue with different spaces that the giant rescues from his sterility. However, in his last works, The Fourth Book, in which Pantagruel and his people set out in search of answers to Panurge’s doubts, they appear only as spectators of a succession of deformed territories without being able to regenerate them.