Perceval, the story of the grail

by de Troyes Chrétien

Other authorsNigel Bryant (Translator)

Hardcover, 1982

Status

Available

Call number

841/.1

Publication

Cambridge : Totowa, N.J. : D.S. Brewer ; Rowman & Littlefield, c1982.

Description

One of the most influential storytellers in Western literature, French poet Chr�?tien de Troyes helped to shape the ever-fascinating legend of King Arthur and the Round Table. Of Chr�?tien's five surviving romantic Arthurian poems, the last and longest is Perceval, an unfinished work that introduces the story of the Grail-a legend quickly adopted by other medieval writers and taken up by a continuing succession of authors. In Chr�?tien's romance, Perceval progresses from a na� ve boyhood in rural seclusion to a position of high respect as a knight at Arthur's court. With the help of two teachers-his mother and Gornemant of Goort-Perceval is ultimately able to reject the worldly adventures chosen by other knights and seek important moral and spiritual answers. Acclaimed for his sensitive and faithful translations of the poems of Chr�?tien, Burton Raffel completes the Arthurian series with this rendition of Perceval. Raffel conveys to the modern English language reader all the delights of Chr�?tien's inventive storytelling, perceptive characterizations and vividly evoked emotions.… (more)

Media reviews

knjigainfo.com

Poznata legenda o Parsifalu, vitezu kralja Artura, i o njegovom traganju za Svetim Gralom, privlačila je pažnju mnogih svetskih pisaca, od Kretjena de Troa i Volfganga fon Ešenbaha do današnjih stvaralaca (Dena Brauna, na primer). Parsifalov život i ličnost poslužili su Kretjenu de Troa,

najpoznatijem francuskom piscu viteških romana u stihu, da napiše tipičnu povest jednog bretonskog viteza koji se od detinjstva do zrelih godina neprestano razvija u vrlinama, posebno jačajući pri tom svoje viteške, kurtoazno-emotivne i humanističke ideale, ali ih i prevazilazeći svojim hrišćanskim milosrđem i potrebom za moralnim i duhovnim uzdizanjem. U prevodu Kolje Mićevića, jednog od naših najoriginalnijih savremenih prevodilaca sa francuskog jezika, povest o Parsifalu i njegovom traganju za svetom posudom u kojoj se nalazi krv Isusa Hrista, odnosno duhovne i moralne vrline hrišćanstva, legenda o Parsifalu i Svetom Gralu još više i pristupačnije će biti približena današnjim čitaocima.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member ed.pendragon

This new edition of Nigel Bryant's eminently readable 1982 translation of the first tale to feature the grail was timed to coincide with the release of the film of The Da Vinci Code, but is as far removed from that work's fantasies as the Mona Lisa is from a Barbie doll.

Chrétien's unfinished

poem, beginning as a literary folk tale of a simpleton who makes good, was already within a few years of his death being embroidered and invested with more significance than was originally intended. Bryant's version includes the whole of Chrétien's text (as found in a key manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris) and extracts from its four Continuations linked by synopses. He has revised his translation of nearly a quarter-century ago with occasional substitutions or recastings, generally for stylistic reasons, it seems, and overall this appears to be for the better. Compare these two versions from a passage in which Perceval sees knights for the first time (1982 version first):
– Stay back! A boy who's seen us has fallen to the ground in fear. If we all advanced towards him at once he would be so frightened that he would die, I think, and could not reply to anything I asked him.
– Stay back! A boy who's seen us has fallen to the ground in fear. If we all advanced towards him at once he'd be frightened to death, I think, and couldn't answer any of my questions.
The end of the second extract certainly flows a lot more smoothly, and over the course of this edition makes the revision more readable.

In 1982 Perceval cost £19.50 for the hardback; allowing for factors such as inflation, the transition to robust paperback and its limited popular appeal, this edition still represents good value. Even if the D D R Owen Everyman Classic translation of 1987 is substantially cheaper, it doesn't include the Continuations which allow us to witness the rapid evolution of a legend. All serious students should have a copy.

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