L’eroe medievale nel romanzo modernista: permanenze, discontinuità e nuovi respiri

Between 1927 and 1931 Virginia Woolf published two successful works – Orlando and The Waves – whose leading characters recall the two greatest heroes of the epic-chivalric tradition, in both name and essential features. Orlando and Percival enter the scene of the modern novel, one in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor, the other walking solemnly like “a medieval leader”. Bearing in mind the historical-cultural context of the early 20th century, and the renewed interest in the Grail tradition, the article will focus on the second case in particular, reflecting on the role of the medieval model in the construction of the contemporary hero.

Keywords: Medieval, Hero, Modernism