The mysterious and haunting Grail makes its first appearance in
literature in Chretien de Troyes' Perceval at the end of the twelfth century. But Chretien
never finished his poem, leaving an unresolved story and an incomplete picture of the Grail.
It was, however, far too attractive an idea to leave. Not only did it inspire quite separate
works; his own unfinished poem was continued and finally completed by no fewer than four
other writers. The Complete Story of the Grail is the first ever translation of the whole of
the rich and compelling body of tales contained in Chretien's poem and its four
Continuations, which are finally attracting the scholarly attention they deserve. Besides
Chretien's original text, there are the anonymous First Continuation (translated here in its
fullest version), the Second Continuation attributed to Wauchier de Denain, and the
intriguing Third and Fourth Continuations - probably written simultaneously, with no
knowledge of each other's work - by Manessier and Gerbert de Montreuil. Two other poets were
drawn to create preludes explaining the background to Chretien's story, and translated here
also are their works: The Elucidation Prologue and Bliocadran. Only in this, The Story of
the Grail's complete form, can the reader appreciate the narrative skill and invention of
the medieval poets and their surprising responses to Chretien's theme - not least their
crucial focus on the knight as a crusader. Equally, Chretien's original poem was almost
always copied in conjunction withone or more of the Continuations, so this translation
represents how most medieval readers would have encountered it. Nigel Bryant's previous
translations from Medieval French include Perlesvaus - the High Bookof the Grail, Robert de
Boron's trilogy Merlin and the Grail, the Medieval Romance of Alexander, The True Chronicles
of Jean le Bel and Perceforest.

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• Literature & FictionLiterary CriticismMovements & PeriodsAncient & Classical

• Publication Date: April 1, 2015
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 637 Pages
• File Size: 59 KB