Perceval: The Story of the Grail

By Chrétien de Troyes

Book Overview

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 naive 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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300075863
• ISBN13: 9780300075861
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"