Product Description
The 12th-century poet Chrétien de Troyes is chiefly responsible for the preservation of Arthurian myth and its eminent role in European literature. This sensitive translation of his verse narratives features four romances. Its tales of Lancelot and early Grail legends offer lively, accessible views of the ideals of French chivalry.
Tags: Arthurian, chrétien de troyes, verse narratives, Romances, grail legends, arthurian myth, arthurian romances
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An awful yawner. It shows all the reasons chivalry made for tiresome tales, and why the world needed Don Quixote so badly.
The Chretien de Troyes version of Lancelot is repetitious, has many loose ends, and is full of plot holes. Lancelot jumps into a cart to shame himself in pursuit of Guenivere. Before Lancelot jumps into the cart, the narrator states that “reason is the enemy of love.” In the scope of the book, and the code of chivalry, reason is the enemy of this genre.
Take with Nyquil.
Rating: 2 / 5
Arthurian Romances
There are several examples of the French chivalrous tradition here, and all that courtly love stuff. Or, how to wear shiny armor, look pretty, do what your religion tells you, be nice to ladies but don’t knock them off their pedestals.
Try to get really, really good at killing people and beating people up, too.
Rating: 3 / 5
Arthurian Romances
Got it for school, but I’m not too big on romances so maybe I’m biased. I’m trying.
It’s a pretty good story…actually a set of stories written by this Troyes guy, all about everyone except noble King Arthur. Gotta buy a different book to get the sword in the stone story. Great for in depth details on the romance-period view of the barbarian Arthurian story, and even better for writing a detailed paper on it.
If you’re into Arthurian stories (and already know the story lines of the main story but want more on the offshoots and the only-mentioned-once characters like Yvain) this is a great book for you! Not good for people who don’t know the story. Watch the disney movie first for some background or read the Mists of Avalon (long but good).
Rating: 4 / 5
Arthurian Romances
Four Arthurian Romances: Erec et Enide — Cliges — Yvain — Lancelot by Chretien de Troyes. Published by MobileReference (mobi).
I’ve read several books on Arthurian literature, and this is one of my favorites. In Knight of the Cart, Chretien really makes Lancelot shine as he sacrifices more than anyone (Arthur particularly) to save Guinevere. Knight with the Lion is a little on the twisted side as Yvain falls in love with the wife of the man he kills, breaks a promise with her, then gets her back through trickery of words. If chivalry and courtly love interest you, this collection of romances is sure to please you. Very solid, very readable translation.
Rating: 5 / 5
Arthurian Romances
D.D.R. Owen, late professor emeritus of French in the University of St. Andrews, states of his translation that he kept “the needs of students” in mind. For that reason, Owen tells us, his “renderings…incline towards the literal.” In other words Owen’s translation of Chrétien of Troyes’s “Arthurian Romances” shuns poetic and literary licence. Decide what you want. This is a scholar’s book, a dry literal translation from twelfth century French of original tales that were too long to start with. General readers may find it dull.
Near the end of his substantive Introduction (which itself makes a useful essay for students of Chrétien’s times) Owen comments that “Chrétien has bequeathed to us a brilliant portrait of the society that gave him his livelihood.” That’s true, but these romances set up portraits that will seem “brilliant” only from a scholar’s perspective.
Chrétien’s productive years spanned 1170 to 1182, the very pinnacle of chivalry — and of chivalry’s unlikely twin, courtly love. Chrétien was an eye-witness, working in the halls of noble patrons, observing and recording the highest values of the culture of his time. He wrote “Lancelot” around 1177, dedicating it to Marie of Champagne (Eleanor of Aquitaine’s eldest child), and bringing the world the first mention of Camelot. By 1182, Chrétien was introducing the Holy Grail in “Perceval: the Story of the Grail.” Before he won fame under Marie’s sponsorship, one wonders if Chrétien had made his observations about the conventions of courtly love and chivalry earlier, at Eleanor’s Court of Ladies in Poitiers (1168-’73). Owen was too much the perfect scholar to speculate, but we can. “Arthurian Romances” contains much that Chrétien absorbed from an influential source, a royal hall replete with courtly traditions, poets and bards. This book is a struggle, but it can be rewarding.
By Robert Fripp, author of
“Power of a Woman. Memoirs of a turbulent life: Eleanor of Aquitaine”
Rating: 4 / 5
Arthurian Romances