Abstract
How does medieval literature relate to time and memory ? What is the place of religion and spirituality in this literature ? Can we conceive of poetry as a narrative ?
In his closing lecture at the Collège de France, Michel Zink looks back over his twenty-two years of teaching. The main themes of his lectures are analyzed, starting with time : medieval literature's view of its own past, the interweaving of subjective time and historical time, and the modern reception of these ancient texts. Then there are questions of poetics : poetry and narrative, anonymity and the poetic subject, poetry and nature. Finally, the constant religious impregnation of medieval letters, which blurs the very notion of secular literature.
