The ironic narrator in Wolfram von Eschenbach's "Parzival"

The ironic narrator of Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival serves two contradictory functions. On the one hand, he gives ownership of the text to the audience by inviting them to participate in and thereby co-author the tale. On the other hand, the ironic narrator wrests control of the text from the audience as he manipulates their responses to the narrative. He also wrests control of the text from the reciter and the scribe by inscribing in the text a "vicarious voice." The device of the ironic narrator thus serves both the audience and the author; it gives the former a sense of authorship while simultaneously protecting the author's authority over the tale in a period when anxiety of authorship was not uncommon.