The original version of one of the greatest and most potent of medieval legends.
Chrétien de Troyes Books
January 1, 1135 – January 1, 1181
Chrétien de Troyes is widely recognized as the father of Arthurian romance and a pivotal figure in Western literature. His works, composed in French in the late twelfth century, showcase a learned approach and a taste for dialectic likely acquired through his education. Simultaneously, his writing reveals a warm human sympathy that animates his characters and situations, bringing them to life. While drawing upon Celtic myth and setting his narratives in the timeless reign of King Arthur, he imbues them with the society and customs of his own era, and his unfinished final work notably introduces the mysterious Grail to literature.
Taking the legends surrounding King Arthur and weaving in new psychological elements of personal desire and courtly manner, Chrétien de Troyes fashioned a new form of medieval Romance. The Knight of the Cart is the first telling of the adulterous relationship between Lancelot and Arthur's Queen Guinevere, and in The Knight with the Lion Yvain neglects his bride in his quest for greater glory. Erec and Enide explores a knight's conflict between love and honour, Cligés exalts the possibility of pure love outside marriage, while the haunting The Story of the Grail chronicles the legendary quest. Rich in symbolism, these evocative tales combine closely observed detail with fantastic adventure to create a compelling world that profoundly influenced Malory, and are the basis of the Arthurian legends we know today.
A twelfth-century poem by the creator of the Arthurian romance describes the courageous exploits and triumphs of a brave lord who tries to win back his deserted wife's love.
Lancelot
- 254 pages
- 9 hours of reading
This translation of Lancelot brings to English-language readers, the fourth of Chretien's five surviving romantic Arthurian poems. This poem was the first to introduce Lancelot as an important figure in the King Arthur legend.
Cligès
- 252 pages
- 9 hours of reading
In this translation of Cliges, the second of five surviving Arthurian poems by 12th-century French poet Chretien de Troyes, Burton Raffel captures the original. In this poem, Chretien creates his most artful plot and paints the most starkly medieval portraits of any of his romances.
Le Conte Du Graal
- 640 pages
- 23 hours of reading
Perceval lives cut off from the world, ignorant of everything, even his name. One day in the forest, he meets, five knights wearing their armor and decides to join the court of King Arthur to become a knight in turn. Thus begins the adventures of Perceval who face a hundred enemies, meets love and tries to unravel the mystery of the Grail. Will thisn aive child become a perfect knight?
Erec and Enide
- 354 pages
- 13 hours of reading
Published in 1987: Erec and Enide, the first of five surviving Arthurian romantic poems by a twelfth-century French poet, narrates a vivid chapter from the legend of King Arthur. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1. Introduction, by William W. Kibler. 2. Select Bibliography. 3. Erec and Enide. 4 Textual Notes. 5. Index to Old French Terms. Appendix A: Line-Number Comparisons with Foerster's and Roques' Editions. Appendix B: Lines Added to Guiot's Text. Appendix C: Non-Emendation Changes to Roques' Text.
Lancelot: the Knight of the Cart
- 160 pages
- 6 hours of reading
Premier écrivain de l'histoire de notre littérature : le premier sous le nom duquel on ait placé plusieurs ouvrages mis «en roman», c'est-à-dire en français, et qui forment une œuvre. Fondateur d'un art de conter et d'un univers à conter, autour d'un roi, Arthur, d'une cour que résume un symbole, la Table Ronde, et de quelques héros auxquels s'identifier pour se perdre dans un éternel hier. Faiseur de mythes, créateur d'un objet religieusement mis en scène et aussitôt retiré, interdit, rendu à jamais désirable, le Graal. Poète de la beauté, du désir, de la joie, de l'amour qui tantôt brille comme l'or des cheveux d'une reine, découverts par Lancelot sur un peigne qui fait signe au bord du chemin, tantôt revêt aux yeux de Perceval, réconcilié avec Dieu au soir du Vendredi saint, les éblouissantes couleurs du sacré. Un poète, un maître, un fondateur, un écrivain : tel est Chrétien de Troyes. Du reste, de sa vie, de son visage, on ignore tout. On sait seulement ceci : il vécut à la fin du XIIe siècle dans la première ville de Champagne, et il laisse cinq des dix romans les plus importants de son époque, un style à imiter, des modèles à admirer, des questions à résoudre, de quoi réveiller l'enfant qui est en nous, et rêver pendant toute une vie d'homme.
