Blessed Bastard: A Novel of Sir Galahad

by Ruth P.M. Lehmann

Adapted Sir Galahd (Arthurian Romance)

Genres: Arthurian, Historical Fiction, 20th Century

202 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

Reviews

[Katerina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blessed Bastard è uno di quei retelling difficili da reperire: ci ho messo un sacco di tempo a trovarne una copia, e quando l'ho preso (in una libreria dell'usato on-line americana) ci ha messo così tanto ad arrivare che credevo fosse andato perduto.
Ma alla fine è arrivato, e ho avuto anche una bella sorpresa: il libro è autografato!
Credo anche che fosse una copia per l'editor, visto che ci sono un sacco di errori di battitura puntualmente corretti a matita.
Piccoli misteri dei libri usati: hanno dietro la storia di chi li ha amati.

Cos'è Blessed Bastard? È un retelling che narra la storia di Galahad, il 'bastardo benedetto' per eccellenza del mito arturiano: figlio illegittimo di Lancillotto ed Elaine di Corbenic, il ragazzo è destinato a diventare il più grande cavaliere del mondo, così puro e nobile da poter non solo trovare il Graal (come Parcival), ma addirittura riconoscerlo e toccarlo.
È il secondo libro che leggo con lui protagonista, ed è profondamente diverso da Grail Prince: se lì c'era melodramma ovunque, qui ho trovato una strana sorta di tranquillità.
Andiamo con ordine: Blessed Bastard segue Galahad dall'infanzia, mostrandoci la sua relazione - estremamente complessa - coi genitori, e come fin da bambino il suo rapporto con Dio e la religione sia stato stretto. In effetti mi è piaciuto vedere come, in questo caso, fosse una fonte di conforto, di forza e sicurezza per il nostro giovane protagonista e non solo un'imposizione inevitabile, così come mi è piaciuto vedere che per quanto Galahad accetti senza drammi il suo destino, essere Il Prescelto abbia avuto come diretta conseguenza la solitudine, l'impossibilità di avere veri e propri compagni d'armi... perché chi vuole essere amico di qualcuno che è e sarà migliore di te, sotto ogni aspetto, per sempre?
La prima parte del libro, con l'infanzia e l'adolescenza di Galahad, è - a mio avviso - la migliore: sostanzialmente la Lehmann ci ha dovuto mettere del suo, creando per il suo protagonista una vita che spiegasse il suo carattere ai lettori. Ho apprezzato il modo in cui ha scelto di descrivere il rapporto tra Elaine e Lancillotto, che uniti da un inganno mostruoso hanno dato vita ad una creatura benedetta, eppure così incapaci di scegliere la propria felicità, senza riuscire mai a fare del tutto la cosa giusta l'uno per l'altra.
Mi è piaciuto l'amore incrinato tra madre e figlio, indubbiamente presente ma che quando il ragazzo è grande abbastanza lei è finalmente libera di cercare la pace in convento, e il rapporto conflittuale tra padre e figlio - alla fine dei conti l'incapacità di Lancillotto di lasciare andare Ginevra (e viceversa) è il motivo per cui l'uomo non c'è mai per il figlio e per Elaine.
La seconda parte l'ho trovata leggermente inferiore, perché quando si entra nel retelling vero e proprio... ecco, lì è come se la Lehmann si fosse semplicemente limitata a ri-raccontare quanto scritto da Malory, ed è molto concentrata sulle varie imprese (e in particolare l'Impresa) e sulla vita interiore di Galahad, quindi gli altri personaggi tendono ad essere piuttosto superficiali: a mero gusto personale avrei voluto vederli tratteggiati come quelli conosciuti nella parte dedicata all'infanzia.
Lo stile mi è piaciuto molto: è elegante, curato, ed era tanto che non leggevo una versione moderna di questo mito che si avvicinasse ai classici non solo nella storia raccontata, ma anche per lo stile scelto per raccontarla.

In definitiva un buon retelling, ma lo consigli ha chi ha già familiarità col mito, e apprezza Galahad.

[Arthurianmaiden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite arthurian books and without any doubt my favourite Galahad book. There are many things I loved about this novel and things I really liked less but overall it is the best novel about Galahad that I have ever read and it's clear that the author likes the character and wants to do him justice, making him a human being more than the snobbish knight that it's easy to find in many other books.
I will write more and with spoilers but if you prefer to not have any spoilers just avoid this section:
I've read this novel in three days mostly because it took me by surprise. The book starts with Galahad's childhood and his relationship with his father and mother. It tries to show to the reader why he is different from the knights of the round table and from the other young men in general, why he is so close to religion. I am an atheist so it's sometimes difficult for me to understand religion and I also think it's such a sensitive topic that it's easy to slip in the 'religion extremism' (like Guinevere in 'Mists of Avalon' when we talk about Christianism, but the author managed to write a relationship with religion which has its reasons (mostly lolinless) without making it obsessive or turning Galahad into an extremism. His relationship with God it's full of warmth and gentlelness and it explains a lot about his character. Also his relationship with Lancelot is well written and it's without any doubt the most interesting one (mostly because Elaine and Galahad doesn't have too much of a relationship) and it is the main theme of the book, managing to be realisticly without too much anger. There is so much more in the first part that I loved, like Galahad's first love, his second love, his reaction to everyone's else idea of him becoming the best knight of the world, the tricks of the old man he meets when a child, who helps him with his great entrance in Camelot.
Galahad is pictured like a gentle man, a man who hates violence and who understands Arthur's idealism more than anyone else, a man who is extremely humble.
Now about the parts I liked a little less (a part from the selfish reason of the book being too short, sigh, only 200 pages or a little less)... if the first half of the book was new, clearly out of the mind of the author, the second part of the book is still a retelling but it almost seems a bit... lazier, as if the author simply decided to rewrite what Malory wrote about Galahad's adventures and the quest, without less and less explanations. I was also a little sad by the lack of relations that Galahad had with the court and the round table, because a part for some interactions with Gawain, Gareth, Perceval, Bors, Guinevere and Mordred, he is mostly concentrated on the quests than on the people around him (a part from Lancelot). I was quite glad to see these interactions from his point of view (and for those who are reading this review and know me you can only imagine how estatic I was to see Galahad interacting with Mordred, the other bastard, almost his opposite) but I would have preferred more about the similarity of ideology of Camelot/Arthur and Galahad and the flickering sentence of Arthur looking at Galahad like the son he never had.
Still, this book deserves all the stars and I will surely reread it in the future.

So basically this novel is the story of Galahad and there is much about his childhood which has been my favourite part because it really starts to give a characterization to the character, to give him reasons, to define the relationship with his mother and his father and mostly with religion. Among the things I liked less there was the last part where it seemes like the author simply used Malory's words and stories, abandoning the re adaptation that she had started the book with, and, of course, the fact that the book is too short. It's 200 pages but I would have gladly read another 200.
If you are a Galahad fan or a Galahad curious this book is a must!

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

slightly oddly paced, prose nothing to write home about, a little sledgehammer in places, but very readable and I agree with her interpretation so immensely and wholeheartedly I have to give it its flowers.

[Mary Iann]

Why can't I find a copy of this book anywhereeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I disliked Galahad when I first read about him in my copy of Le Morte d'Arthur. He was too perfect. Simply there to be a sinless Lancelot. A manifestation of an ideal. But because of that, he was very distant as a character.

Lehmann attempted to rectify this in her book. She told us a story of Galahad growing up a lonely boy. He had two older friends, who left him when they got married, but no one of his age to grow up with. His mother radiated sadness and lonliness. She taught him to turn to God when he felt like she did, which was quite often.

When Galahad became a knight, he found that due to his upbringing, he could not connect with anyone. He was a man with no vices and no desire for glory. How could any knight relate?

Galahad is still a distant character to me, despite gaining much more insight on him. But that is because Galahad himself is distant from life. I see him as everyone sees him.

Lehmann makes Galahad carry the title of Best Knight as if it was a burden. But Galahad saw how being called the greatest knight in the world brought relief to both those he fought and saved.
Even though Galahad did not believe himself to be worthy of this title - because he felt that since he was rarely challenged, there has been nothing for him to overcome and thus did not deserve praise - he never objected to the people who needed to think him great calling him Best Knight. Although Galahad was still very humble whenever anyone spoke directly to him about his feats, which I admired.

One of my biggest gripes with this novel is that it is full of telling emotions, but rarely showing them. We are directly told that Galahad feels burdened, but if that was not a sentence in this book, I never would have known.

My second biggest gripe is that Lehmann removes almost all the magic from her Arthurian tale. Instead of dragons and giants, there is a bear. Instead of genuine miracles, there are tricks. Instead of getting carried to Heaven by angels, Galahad suddenly falls ill and weak, dying right after a final prayer. Perhaps Galahad's weakening body is meant to be a manifestation of the burden we are told he carries, but if so, that is not clear. I feel like the magic is a very appealing part of Arthuriana, and while I can understand enjoying realism instead, I definitely was disappointed at this switch-a-roo (especially during the ending).

I feel like most of the songs and poems that Lehmann included were more so to show off her research than to aid in setting a tone or building/foreshadowing the plot.

I love the bonding moment between Galahad and his father in the last chapter ~ definitely my favorite scene.

I was estatic when Mordred and Galahad got to meet! They are perfect foils for each other. (And Mordred is perfect in general 🥰 we stan a petty, cunning, goth, drama queen. He was barely here, and yet still managed to capture my heart.)

[SarahC · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Arthurian novel stood out from the rest. The writing style was old-fashioned which gave it the feel of a novel of an earlier time. Galahad's story has varied throughout literature, so it in interesting to read a recent novel focused solely on him.

A bonus of the story is the interaction between father and son, Lancelot and Galahad, which by the very nature of their connection would have been a conflicting one. This novel uses the traditional Grail Quest story to provide scenes of nice dialog between the two.

I recommend this novel alongside Nancy McKenzie's novel The Grail Prince.

[Monica Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched; beautifully written. The tale of Sir Galahad, the purest and noblest knight of Arthur's court...son of Lancelot. While other Arthurian tales merely gloss over the character of Galahad, Lehmann unfolds the story behind the man, and his quest for the Holy Grail.