A01=Robert de Boron
Arthur
Arthurian literature
Author_Robert de Boron
betrayal
Biblical past
Category=DNT
Category=DSBB
Category=FBC
Chretien's Perceval: The Story of the Grail
death of Arthur
drama
eq_anthologies-novellas-short-stories
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_classics
eq_deactivated
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Holy Grail
Joseph of Arimathea
knightly adventures
legend
Marlborough College
Merlin
Nigel Bryant
oral nature
Perceval's Grail quest
Perlesvaus
sword in the stone
thirteenth-century romance
trilogy of prose romances
Utherpendragon
Vortigern
Product details
- ISBN 9780859917797
- Weight: 292g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 04 Aug 2005
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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This trilogy establishes a provenance for the Holy Grail and, through the figure of Merlin, links Joseph of Arimathea with mythical British history and with the knightly adventures of Perceval's Grail quest.
It is hard to overstate the importance of this trilogy of prose romances in the development of the legend of the Holy Grail and in the evolution of Arthurian literature as a whole. They give a crucial new impetus to the story of the Grail by establishing a provenance for the sacred vessel - and for the Round Table itself - in the Biblical past; and through the controlling figure of Merlin they link the story of Joseph of Arimathea with the mythical Britishhistory of Vortigern and Utherpendragon, the birth of Arthur, and the sword in the stone, and then with the knightly adventures of Perceval's Grail quest and the betrayal and death of Arthur, creating the very first Arthurian cycle. Ambitious, original and complete in its conception, this trilogy - translated here for the first time - is a finely paced, vigorous piece of storytelling that provides an outstanding example of the essentially oral nature of early prose.
NIGEL BRYANT is head of drama at Marlborough College. He has also provided editions in English of the anonymous thirteenth-century romance Perlesvaus, published as The High Book of the Grail, and Chretien's Perceval: The Story of the Grail.
NIGEL BRYANT is well known for his lively and accurate versions of medieval French works. His translations of Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval and all its continuations and of the extraordinary late Arthurian romance Perceforest have been major achievements; he has also translated Jean le Bel's history of the early stages of the Hundred Years War, and the 13th- and 14th-century biographies of William Marshal and Bertrand du Guesclin. He was awarded the 2019 Norris J. Lacy Prize for outstanding editorial achievement in Arthurian studies.
