The Protagonist’s Quest or Journey Through Life in European Literature from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Age: A Core Motif in European Culture

Certainly, there is currently a strong movement in the discourse on cultural history, sociology, anthropology, and literary studies to move ourselves away from a Eurocentric perspective and to open up global dimensions. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Europe as a historical and cultural entity remains a unique phenomenon that deserves to be studied all by itself in clear contrast to Arabic, Persian, Indian, Chinese, African, or Latin-American literature, visual arts, philosophy, or music. Of course, Europe as a separate continent has always been determined by many different languages, social groups, religious sects and philosophical schools, and it has always been the recipient and a source of inspiration for many other cultures, but we can certainly identify a unifying core that determined and defined that continent from late antiquity until today, as contested this core or its definition might be. This study is not at all interested in demonstrating an alleged European superiority over other continents; instead, the purpose here is to isolate and determine a significant and shared motif characteristic of most European literature since the post-Roman period: the quest, and this in material and spiritual terms. This notion of the quest has probably always been a universal concept relevant for all people across the globe, but this paper only highlights the extent to which European literature since late antiquity has been deeply determined by the protagonist’s desire for and need of reaching his/her goal in physical and spiritual terms, overcoming countless challenges, and accomplishing a unique task of supreme importance. We might deal here with an archetypal notion of global value, but a broad overview of some of the most important medieval and early modern narratives confirms that, indeed, the protagonist’s quest can be identified as fundamentally important in European literature at least until modernity.