Perceval: The Story of the Grail

by Chrétien de Troyes, Burton Raffel (Translator)

One of the most influential storytellers in Western literature, French poet Chretien de Troyes helped to shape the ever-fascinating legend of King Arthur and the Round Table. Of Chretien's five surviving romantic Arthurian poems, the last and longest is Perceval, an unfinished work that introduces the story of the Grail -- a legend quickly adopted by other medieval writers and taken up by a continuing succession of authors. In Chretien's romance, Perceval progresses from a naive boyhood in rural seclusion to a position of high respect as a knight at Arthur's court. Acclaimed for sensitive and faithful translations of the poems of Chretien, Burton Raffel completes the Arthurian series with this rendition of Perceval.

Genres: Arthurian

310 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Chrétien de Troyes, commonly regarded as the father of Arthurian romance and a key figure in Western literature, composed in French in the latter part of the twelfth century. Virtually nothing is known of his life. Possibly a native of Troyes, he enjoyed patronage there from the Countess Marie of Champagne before dedicating his last romance to Count Philip of Flanders, perhaps about 1182. His poetry is marked by a learning and a taste for dialectic acquired in Latin schools; but at the same time it reveals a warm human sympathy which breathes life into characters and situations. Whilst much of his matter is inherited from the world of Celtic myth and the events notionally unfold in the timeless reign of King Arthur, the society and customs are those of Chrétien's own day. In his last, unfinished work, Perceval, the mysterious Grail makes its first appearance in literature.