Miguel de Unamuno’s oeuvre comprises a substantial number of texts whose main scope is religion, almost exclusively Christianity. This should come as no surprise in a person who had a very idiosyncratic creed, and whose “agonic” take on faith and transcendence dominated much of his life. Precisely because he was so invested in and knowledgeable about religion, it is surprising to find that he used “el buen bandolero” to refer to “el buen ladrón” (“the good thief”)—the latter being a phrase with long-standing idiomatic status to refer to one of the criminals crucified next to Jesus. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, we trace the origin and potential sources of this collocation, which is anomalous from a phraseological standpoint. Thus, we will identify and document the intertextual genesis of “el buen bandolero” through primary and secondary sources. In addition to unearthing the intertextual roots of Unamuno’s “el buen bandolero,” this study shall also outline the main functions that this phrase has in the author’s literary and non-literary discourse. This idiosyncratic phrase has relevant ramifications within any holistic analysis of Unamuno’s prose and, because of its religious nature, it also reveals itself as a stylistic manifestation of his evasive strain of Christianity.
The Old English Waldere and the Latin Waltharius, the two major witnesses to the legend of Walther of Aquitaine from the early medieval period, have long been considered divergent with respect to their treatment of Hildegund, Walther’s love interest. Critics have often maintained that there is a stark contrast between the two depictions of this character, who is thought to be timid and docile in Waltharius, but authoritative and fearless in Waldere. The present article maintains that this critical commonplace developed erroneously in response to superficial differences in the two works. Closer scrutiny reveals that there is, in fact, more stability in the early medieval treatment of Hildegund’s character than has previously been recognized. The consistent depiction of Hildegund as an idealized aristocratic figure, devoid of extreme or undesirable qualities, anticipates later medieval treatments of her character and corroborates Bornholdt’s (Engaging moments: the origins of medieval bridal-quest narrative, Walter de Gruyter, 2005) argument that the Walther legend is connected to the Germanic bridal-quest tradition.
This article examines late-medieval reconfigurations of the pastourelle in Middle French and Middle Dutch popular printed song. While the French courtly pastourelle, preserved in manuscripts intended for aristocratic audiences, has often been read as both a critique and a reinforcement of courtly codes of conduct, the genre acquired new meanings in the widely circulating printed books that reached the more socially diverse publics of late medieval cities. To enable the study of these divergent messages across divers cultural contexts, this article proposes conceptualizing the pastourelle not as a literary genre but as a recurrent narrative. This approach allows for a broader understanding of the tradition, in which the pastourelle narrative functioned as a familiar framework for exploring themes of power and gender in various ways, while also absorbing influences from contemporary song traditions. As a result, this article demonstrates how printed popular songs diverge from the courtly paradigm of class conflict, reshaping the pastourelle narrative to articulate both restrictive and empowering messages concerning sexual violence, justice and consent, particularly addressed to female audiences.
This article illustrates how distant reading methods that take an intersectional approach to fictional identity in medieval and early modern texts can shed new light on the identity models being hailed in these texts. To this end it discusses and contextualises the results of employing mixed-method digital analysis of intersectional identity to the complex and layered fictional world of Elye Bokher’s renowned fifteenth-century Yiddish romance Bovo d’Antona.
This study examines Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera through Edward Said’s conceptualization of exile as a “discontinuous state of being” to investigate how Erik’s lifelong exclusion shapes his identity, relationships, and self-perception. While existing scholarship often frames the Phantom as abject or the Gothic Other, this paper argues that Said’s formulation of exile—as a metaphysical, psychological, and cultural severing from “home”—offers a more comprehensive lens for understanding Erik’s fragmented selfhood. Erik’s lifelong ostracization—beginning with parental rejection and persisting through social marginalization—culminate in a profound metaphysical exile that fractures his sense of self and structures his actions, relationships, and final fate. In response, he constructs substitute identities—the Angel of Music and the Phantom—and builds a subterranean world beneath the Paris Opera as a surrogate home, which reflects both his longing for connection and his internalized alienation. The paper further examines the paradox of exile through Erik’s relationship with the Persian, another displaced figure, illustrating how exiles may reenact othering even toward those who share their estrangement. Ultimately, Erik’s attempts to fashion a sense of belonging collapse under the weight of self-loathing, resentment, and his inability to form reciprocal bonds, culminating in his solitary death within the very “home” he created. By situating Leroux’s novel within postcolonial and psycho-social understandings of exile, this study reveals how the Gothic amplifies the universal human fear of isolation and demonstrates that Erik’s tragedy lies not in monstrosity but in a profound longing for connection, recognition, and home.
