SOURCE: Gertz, SunHee Kim. “‘Habe ime wîs unde wort mit mir gemeine’: The Traditional in the Poetry and Criticism of Walther von der Vogelweide.” Exemplaria: A Journal of Theory in Medieval and Renaissance Studies 3, no. 1 (spring 1991): 189-219.

In the following essay, Gertz surveys critics' responses to Walther, noting that their interpretations have been influenced by their preconceptions, their choice of approach, and their critical styles.

The questions that scholars of medieval literature might pose are, of course, manifold. It appears, however, that their responses to such questions must be more constrained than those of critics of more contemporary literature, since medieval literary studies examine a spottily documented textual culture. The medievalist often has no recourse to many of those aspects of popular culture that create social contexts; very often, he or she does not even have access to an author's life records, or, worse yet, to an...