Aksjologiczny wymiar przestrzeni w starofrancuskiej literaturze dworskiej
The axiological dimension of space in old-French courtly literature

Summary/Abstract: In medieval mentality the world is viewed in a dichotomous fashion, the prototypical case being the pervasive axiologically-loaded opposition between the sacred and the profane. This mental structure, also reflected in the literature of the period, is characterized by the chronotope: the unbreakable bond of space and time, in which literary plots are set. The chronotope is not mere decorum but participates, on a par with the plot and the characters, in the construction of the meaning and didactic message of a given literary work. This is especially conspicuous in its basic component: space. At one extreme of the axis there is the space of culture: the court, the human abode, etc. It is being idealized – it is utopian, whereas the world of wildlife is hostile, dangerous and dystopian. However, when the opposition is embedded in the context of a specific genre or individual work, an axiological reversal of space may ensue. This is particularly relevant in courtly literature, whose plots are strictly connected with travelling, i.e. progression through space, tantamount to progression along the axiological scale.

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