Chrétien continued : a study of the Conte du Graal and its verse continuations / Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bruckner, Matilda Tomaryn.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chrétien, de Troyes, active 12th century. Perceval le Gallois.

Chrétien.

Arthurian romances--History and criticism.

Arthurian romances.

Grail--Romances--History and criticism.

Grail.

French literature--To 1500--Authorship.

French literature.

French literature--To 1500--History and criticism.

Literature and society--France--History--To 1500.

Literature and society.

History.

Authorship.

Grail--Romances.

France.

Genre:

Romances.

Physical Description:

xii, 263 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.

Summary:

However far the continuations appear to wander from the master text, the manuscript tradition supports an implicit claim of oneness extending across the multiplicity of discordant voices combined in a dozen different manuscript compilations, the varying ensembles in which most medieval readers encountered Chrétien's Conte. Indeed, considered as a group the continuators show remarkable fidelity in integrating his romance's key elements, as they respond sympathetically to the dynamic incongruities and paradoxical structure of their model, its desire for and deferral of ending, its non-Aristotelian logic of 'and/both' in which contiguity forces interpretation and further narrative elaboration. Unlike their prose competitors, the verse continuators remain faithful to the dialectical movement inscribed across the interlace of two heroes' intertwined stories, the contradictory yet complementary spirit that propels Chrétien's decentered Conte du Graal.

Contents:

Introduction 1

Overview of the Corpus 4

Perceval Continuations and Grail Rewritings 11

Verse and Prose/Centripetal and Centrifugal Textuality 15

Key Traits of the Conte du Graal 17

On Ending and Endlessness 22

Reading (Through) Collective Authorship 25

1 Authorial Relays 32

Authors' Names 33

Anonymous Chrétien 42

Interlacing Wauchier de Denain 44

Manessier's Closing Signature 54

Collective Authorship and Gerbert 59

Back to the Story and Chrétien 72

2 Telling Tales, Of Maidens in Tents 86

Textual Intercourse and Human Development 87

Chrétien's Criss-crossing Itineraries 91

Perceval and the Tent Maiden: Simulating Rape 95

Too Little and Too Much for the Ladies' Man 98

Gauvain and the Male Pucele: Thinking About Rape 100

The First Continuation's Gauvain: Confessing Rape 105

Gerbert's Gauvain: Acting out Rape 109

Retelling Love Stories: Writing Forward and Back 112

3 Sons and Mothers, Mothers and Lovers 116

Protecting Mothers: Connections and Contradictions 119

The Sin of the Mother 124

Nature and Nurture 127

The Marginalization and Restoration of Mothers 132

Mothers and Siblings: From the Conte to the First Continuation 135

The Sexuality of Mothers 137

The Good Mother and the Beloved 143

4 Violent Swords and Utopian Plowshares 149

Violence at the Heart of Romance 149

What is a Lance? 153

Collapsing Oppositions 157

Isaiah's Utopian Vision in Arthurian Garb 163

Re-reading Oppositions 165

Unending Questions 168

Grail Quests and the Ends of Violence 173

Manessier's Resolution 179

5 Middles, Beginnings, and Ends 187

A Beginning for Middles and Endings 187

Verbatim Repetition: A Biblical Example 192

Gerbert's Grail-like Barrels 198

Grail Castle Visits Multiplied 204.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [237]-263) and index.

ISBN:

9780199557219

0199557217

OCLC:

248977962