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Perceval and Gawain in Dark Mirrors: Reflection and Reflexivity in Chretien de Troyes's Conte del Graal
An innovative author of verse romance, Chretien de Troyes wrote in northern France between 1170 and 1190. Credited with the first Arthurian romance, he composed five works set in King Arthur's court, culminating with an unfinished masterpiece, the Conte del Graal (Story of the Grail). This text is the first to mention the banquet serving dish that became the Holy Grail in early efforts to rewrite or complete the text.

This book focuses on the Conte's narrative depiction of mirrors real and metaphorical: shining armor, a polished golden eagle, the Grail itself, St. Paul's enigmatic looking glass, the blood drops in snow in which Perceval sees the face of his beloved. The last chapter joins the controversy over Chretien's intended conclusion, and proposes a climactic ending in which Perceval, heir to the Grail kingdom, confronts his double, Gawain, heir to Arthur's Logres.

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Perceval and Gawain in Dark Mirrors: Reflection and Reflexivity in Chretien de Troyes's Conte del Graal
An innovative author of verse romance, Chretien de Troyes wrote in northern France between 1170 and 1190. Credited with the first Arthurian romance, he composed five works set in King Arthur's court, culminating with an unfinished masterpiece, the Conte del Graal (Story of the Grail). This text is the first to mention the banquet serving dish that became the Holy Grail in early efforts to rewrite or complete the text.

This book focuses on the Conte's narrative depiction of mirrors real and metaphorical: shining armor, a polished golden eagle, the Grail itself, St. Paul's enigmatic looking glass, the blood drops in snow in which Perceval sees the face of his beloved. The last chapter joins the controversy over Chretien's intended conclusion, and proposes a climactic ending in which Perceval, heir to the Grail kingdom, confronts his double, Gawain, heir to Arthur's Logres.

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Perceval and Gawain in Dark Mirrors: Reflection and Reflexivity in Chretien de Troyes's Conte del Graal

Perceval and Gawain in Dark Mirrors: Reflection and Reflexivity in Chretien de Troyes's Conte del Graal

by Rupert T. Pickens
Perceval and Gawain in Dark Mirrors: Reflection and Reflexivity in Chretien de Troyes's Conte del Graal
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Perceval and Gawain in Dark Mirrors: Reflection and Reflexivity in Chretien de Troyes's Conte del Graal

Perceval and Gawain in Dark Mirrors: Reflection and Reflexivity in Chretien de Troyes's Conte del Graal

by Rupert T. Pickens

Overview

An innovative author of verse romance, Chretien de Troyes wrote in northern France between 1170 and 1190. Credited with the first Arthurian romance, he composed five works set in King Arthur's court, culminating with an unfinished masterpiece, the Conte del Graal (Story of the Grail). This text is the first to mention the banquet serving dish that became the Holy Grail in early efforts to rewrite or complete the text.

This book focuses on the Conte's narrative depiction of mirrors real and metaphorical: shining armor, a polished golden eagle, the Grail itself, St. Paul's enigmatic looking glass, the blood drops in snow in which Perceval sees the face of his beloved. The last chapter joins the controversy over Chretien's intended conclusion, and proposes a climactic ending in which Perceval, heir to the Grail kingdom, confronts his double, Gawain, heir to Arthur's Logres.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780786494385
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date: 10/27/2014
Pages: 216
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Rupert T. Pickens has taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Kentucky and has published on medieval topics. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Table of Contents

Preface: Chrétien de Troyes's Conte del Graal 1

Introduction. The Prologue: "Through a glass, darkly" 11

1 Specularity and Reflective Sequences 17

2 The Hermitage: "He that abideth in charity" 55

3 Gawain in the Galloway Borderland 85

4 Apotheosis and Relapse 104

Conclusion: "Hide your good deeds from your left hand" 133

Appendices

A The Peccatum matris as Original Sin: Psalm 108/109:14 153

B The Peccatum matris as an Incentive to Charity: Foregrounding the Mother in the Vulgate Sirach 155

C The Custom of Logres in the Charrete 158

Chapter Notes 161

Bibliography 185

Index 195

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