| Narrative texts that center on travel to a world in which time passes at a different pace had a particular diffusion in Medieval Europe, and many examples are found in Ireland, France, Italy, and Spain, where this motif is present in legends of the Camino de Santiago, one of the Cantigas de Alfonso X, and the Libro del Conde Lucanor, by Don Juan Manuel. These stories can be reduced to a limited number of narrative functions, putting in evidence the differences between two groups of narratives: one in which time passes at a slower pace, and one with a faster pace. M. Eliade's theory of the Eternal Return and J. Campbell's theory about the hero travelling to his subconscious can be applied to the slower time group. The Supernatural Lapse of Time in these stories reflects the contrast between sacred and profane time (Eliade), while the travel of the hero represents his coming in touch with his deeper side, his sacred subconsciousness (Campbell).;In the case of the faster time, a new theory by A. Borghini, called "Topo-logic," seems to be more applicable. Borghim relates the characters' identities in some folk stories to their location, that is, to their position in space or to their socio-familiar environment. Inspired by this idea, I propose a theory I call the "Chrono-logic," according to which the characters' identities relate also to the time in which they move, since the space in the above narratives does not change.;The "Sleeping Beauty" narrative is paradigmatic of a third type of tale that condenses the two narrative schemes of slower and faster time. Also in this group of tales, the narrative mechanisms dealing with time relate to the character's identity, understood as the individual's identity within his or her family and society (or societies past and present). Social identity is at the core of many heroic narrations in ancient and folklore texts, where the deeds of the protagonists of the three narrative schemes and of many other narrative types are a way of finding out their role in society. |
