Parzival

by Wolfram von Eschenbach Narrated by Leighton Pugh

Overview

The greatest of all the medieval romances about the Holy Grail, Parzival was written in the early 13th century. The narrative describes the quest of the Arthurian knight, Parzival, for the Holy Grail. His journey is filled with incident, from tournaments and sieges to chivalrous deeds and displays of true love. The poem influenced several later works, most notably Richard Wagner's opera of the same name and Umberto Eco's Baudolino. The text used in this recording is Cyril Edwards's modern prose translation.

Editorial Reviews

NOVEMBER 2021 - AudioFile

This prose translation of one of the earliest of the Grail stories is a corker of a medieval romance, and narrator Leighton Pugh makes the most of its tension and occasional flashes of humor and emotion. Listeners should be prepared for some surprises. The Grail itself, for example, is a stone, not a cup, and has nothing to do with Jesus. By the time the legends reached Malory, who wrote LE MORTE D'ARTHUR, they had evolved considerably. Pugh uses a range of voices and accents to differentiate characters, but the text gives him little help; not until the Renaissance, for the most part, did the people in stories start becoming more than symbols. The one exception here is Eschenbach, who pops in occasionally as himself. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2021 - AudioFile

This prose translation of one of the earliest of the Grail stories is a corker of a medieval romance, and narrator Leighton Pugh makes the most of its tension and occasional flashes of humor and emotion. Listeners should be prepared for some surprises. The Grail itself, for example, is a stone, not a cup, and has nothing to do with Jesus. By the time the legends reached Malory, who wrote LE MORTE D'ARTHUR, they had evolved considerably. Pugh uses a range of voices and accents to differentiate characters, but the text gives him little help; not until the Renaissance, for the most part, did the people in stories start becoming more than symbols. The one exception here is Eschenbach, who pops in occasionally as himself. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173004666
Publisher:	Naxos Audiobooks
Publication date:	05/18/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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