The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief

by Richard Barber

Book Overview

The elusive image of the Holy Grail has haunted the Western imagination for eight centuries. It represents the ideal of an unattainable yet infinitely desirable goal, the possibility of perfection.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674013905
• ISBN13: 9780674013902
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 463 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Unique in its class ... detailed, exhaustive, and accessible (mostly)

My initial review (this has been an ongoing project as I digest the book in its entirety): I just want to say that I love this book because I studied a lot of this twenty years ago and of course have forgotten most of it, but have always wished that I could have continued and studied the primary texts in the original languages, especially the medieval French -- this is the next best thing: It is a review course with extensive notes and bibliography. Very handy. Thank you, Richard Barber! ... And more: I have been a Grail hobbyist since the late 1970s, and I skipped reading Da Vinci Code because I had already read Baigent & Leigh and the subject had grown so *yawn* passe. I've read shelves of Grail literature, and tossed aside countless books on the subject that turned out to be, well, ridiculous, or ravings, or poorly written either in terms of sloppy thinking or overmuch obfuscating. Not that there aren't good books on the subject, just that the ratio of good to unhelpful is depressingly poor. Barber's book is beyond helpful, it is straightforward, encyclopedic, and non-derogatory (and I totally didn't catch anything "cutesy", despite what another reviewer is grumping about). It is of course helpful to have read a few Grail stories first! I would recommend Malory's Morte D'Arthur (there is a lovely new edition out by Barnes & Noble if you want to treat yourself) and a nice version of Chretien de Troyes, but probably any would do, although I'd recommend a minimum of two, and from at least two separate languages or centuries (and Disney doesn't count). It is also helpful to have a basic knowledge of the Christian Eucharist (Mass, Communion), wherein the Body and Blood of Christ are present in the Bread and Wine. Less common but (I think) also interesting treatments also include the poetic cycles Taliessin Through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars, by Charles Williams (AKA his Arthuriad) as well as the novels of Stephen R. Lawhead. Grail works are typically eccentric, so one must find the works that best suit one. One of the many very useful things that Barber pointed out, for me, was the interweaving of the various forms of Christ's Blood (blood from his body vs. "blood" of Communion wine), and which he does, in my opinion, objectively, leaving the reader to decide what he or she may or may not believe. Barber just traces what was written by whom and when... along with just enough about settings and such, not too much, but with a novella's worth of bibliography, one can read on as one desires. When it comes to the later works, however, Barber really hits his stride in terms of critical commentary. He agrees or disagrees with various scholars and movements, and provides names and dates so that you may, again, follow up as you like. He seems to have been particularly moved by Wagner's Parsifal. As Barber moves into the modern works, his tone becomes more critical. At first I found this a little disturbing, as I h

A fascinating and fun text

How could one not love a book that deals with the Holy Grail by looking both at the Arthurian legends and the Monty Python films? I finished this book last night, as 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade', a film mentioned in the book, was playing in the background. Actually, I bought this book as a gift for a friend (who loaned it back to me) as her family has its own Grail legend, with the lore of her family from Wales holding that the cup was (or may even yet be) in the possession of her kin. As she returns to Britain in the winter to do some exploring, I thought this text would be a good primer to various issues surrounding the Grail, and Barber's text does not disappoint. Particularly in an age where popular literature has a re-visioning of the Grail being not the cup of Christ, but rather a blood-line, to look at the way the Grail has been portrayed over time is fascinating. The first section of the book examines some of the earliest literature about the Grail - it was not in fact part of the earliest of Arthurian legends, but later grafted on. The French author Chretien de Troyes is credited with the first Grail story, who used romantic imagery and ecclesial symbols freely in this tale. It seems to be an original tale, so far as Barber is concerned - he finds no evidence that this was part of a legend oral or written that was handed down. Chretien de Troyes was author of many medieval romantic tales, and unfortunately did not live long enough to finish the one about the Grail. The story was picked up by later authors, most notably Robert de Boron and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The tale became increasingly developed and embellished, continuing to draw in more and more characters - Perceval, Galahad, Lancelot, and more. Not all of the authors agree with each other (just as modern interpretations in novels, films, and 'historical' works also differ with each other), and Barber does a good, ecumenical job at laying out the different issues. But through the confusion, Barber draws forth these questions: 'Why should the new genre of romance aspire to take on the great problems of theology and the highest moments of mystical experience? But they remain in the background while we turn first to ask our own version of Perceval's Grail question: "What is the Grail?" ' Barber's second section is the most informative section, looking at issues of relics, legends, histories true and false, theological questions, and mystical images. The Grail remained an ever-present image in the medieval world because of the natural association with the Eucharistic cup, present at church services throughout Christendom on a regular basis, all being believed in this pre-Reformation society to be the bearer of the actual blood of Christ. The Eucharist is a piece of medieval drama and choreography as well as the centre of artistic expression (many churches and cathedrals also served as the local 'art galleries' of a sort, and also the place where music was pe

A journey through the ages of Grail literature

The Holy Grail, the Cup of Christ, it's been called many names. The Grail has been the stuff of legends for centuries. Almost always associated in some way with King Arthur, the Grail has made its way through time to the modern day through stories, epic poems, and other forms of media. Where did it come from? Was there some original legend that this was all based on? Or was it all a figment of some writer's imagination that caught fire and lasted throughout the ages? Richard Barber's new book, The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief, sets out to answer some of these questions. Unlike some books, Barber does not try to prove the Grail is real, or where it can be found. Instead, Barber's intent is to examine the legend of the Grail, to trace its history through all of the Arthurian romances of the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, all the way up to the modern day. When a book like this mentions both Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you know it's complete! Barber begins at the beginning, probably the best place to start. The first Arthurian tale about the Grail is thought to have been written by Chretien de Troyes, a French writer probably from the town of the same name. Chretien was a writer of medieval romances, and he called this particular selection "The Story of the Grail." There is no indication that he was adapting any other story, either verbal or long-lost written, so it is widely believed that he invented the thing. Unfortunately, he did not live to finish the story, and a number of men tried to continue it. Barber examines the original in great detail, reprinting a great many passages from it. He quotes it for four pages and then says: "I have quoted this at length, because it is the original of all subsequent descriptions of the Grail and its surroundings, and we shall see how the least detail becomes critical to our investigation." Pg 19 He does this with many of the tracts that he analyzes, from the continuations of Chretien's poem after he died, to Robert de Boron, and numerous others. Then he expertly analyzes the text to demonstrate just what part of the legend has changed or has been reused by each subsequent author. He goes into great detail about all of the variations of the Grail story that appeared in the late 12th century to around 1240. It's fascinating watching the history of the Grail, one of the most intriguing objects in literature, virtually change before your eyes as you get a different author's imagination applied to it. These first few chapters seem kind of long at first, with great blocks of text, much of it in smaller font because it's a quote. However, I quickly lost myself in these stories and Barber's dissection of them. It's very important to establish this base for when he moves on to the later centuries. In these early tales, the Grail was variously representative of either the Eucharist or other specific rituals from the Christian mythos. Each sto

Centuries of Imaginative Power

We all know what it is to seek the Holy Grail. Richard Barber has done a survey of newspapers and other timely publications and found that people are seeking Holy Grails all the time, but may have no idea about the historic origin of the name for that quest. A unified theory is the Holy Grail of physics, Marmite's range of vitamins make it the Holy Grail of foodstuffs, and fashion designers somewhere are seeking the Holy Grail of "nude" tights. These seekers may not know the Grail by name, but the idea of a quest for something perfect, something elusive, something that really is never going to be found is a universal one. In _The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief_ (Harvard University Press), Barber, a British authority on medieval history, has made an exhaustive study of the origins of the Grail legend and how, over 800 years, the legend has been changed, used, misused, parodied, and revered. This is a big, academic reference book, but the appeal of the subject and Barber's erudition and sense of fun make it enticing reading. There may have been a Grail tradition in stories and in pictures, but no one wrote them down until Chrétien de Troyes, who wrote, among other things, an unfinished romance about Perceval around 1180. Chrétien never finished his story, and didn't say much about the Grail in it, but the idea of this holy relic was so strong that in the succeeding fifty years, several poets from various countries not only completed the tale but added their own material and themes. Barber, going through the conflicting Grail stories, argues that there is little evidence that there is any "true source" for the Grail except Chrétien's stories and their descendents. Their context is the orthodox Christianity of the period, but the Church itself officially and studiously ignored the stories. The stories, however, emphasized the importance of the Eucharist, the spiritual aspirations of knightly questing, and the value of veneration of relics. Barber's book takes Grail lore up to the current times (yes, including Monty Python), including the vessels that people have sufficient faith (or gall) to insist are the real McCoy. Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee had some fun with the Grail: "The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several-years' cruise. Every year expeditions went out holy Grailing and next year relief expeditions went to hunt for them. There was worlds of reputation in it, but no money."Twain's remarks are happier than the other modern manifestations of the legend. The crowd that sees international, centuries-long conspiracies at the heart of all history all value the Grail. Alchemists, Nazis, New Agers, Rosicrucians, and the like have all made some sort of claim to it, and if having religious faith in the item is not sufficient, they have backed up their connections to it using astrology, Tarot cards, ley-lines, and other such evidence. As Barber says, "We are not far... from the world of the flying

The Holy Grail as a key to self-identity

Richard Barber begins this magisterial study of the Holy Grail archetype with these words: "The Grail is a mysterious and haunting image, which crosses the borders of fiction and literature and which, for eight centuries, has been a recurrent ideal in Western literature"--and, as he makes clear in the book, in Western art, religion, spirituality, and psychology as well. Almost all of us have heard about the Grail (especially recently in all the hype over Dan Brown's thriller "The Da Vinci Code"), but almost none of us really know much about it. This is too bad, because the Grail legend is replete with meaning that gestures at the very core of who we are as humans.The merits of Barber's book are many, but two in particular stand out. In the first place, he provides an exhaustive and entertaining discussion of the origins of the Grail legend, the various authors (such as Chretien de Troyes, Robert de Boron, and Wolfram von Eschenbach) who popularized the legend in the Middle Ages, and the symbolism behind the legends--how it ties in, for example, with the Eucharist. Secondly, he reflects in insightful and sometimes profound ways on just what the Grail legend means to us today, tracing the modern Grail expressions that abound in art, cinema (yes, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is discussed!), and literature. Barber is especially good at discussing the human longing for perfection and wholeness that the Grail quest symbolizes, and in speculating on why the Grail archetype holds such strong attraction. Part of the key to understanding its appeal lies in the fact that it is a product of the interplay between two essential human characteristics: belief and imagination (hence the book's subtitle). The proper hiding place of the Grail, in other words, is in the liminal space between imagination and belief. In focusing on archetypes such as the Grail, humans explore depths of themselves that otherwise might go unnoticedThe book is wonderfully illustrated--as well it should be, since the Grail has been such a common motif in art--with intertextual black and white reproductions and a center section of color photographs which are really quite breathtaking in their beauty. If you're a long-devoted Grail enthusiast, or if you're just beginning the pilgrimage and want a resource that can help you understand, for example, just who the heck the Fisher King is, this is the book for you.