Tristan Band 1

by Gottfried von Strassburg

German

Genres: Classics, Medieval, German Literature, Fiction, Romance, Literature

595 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1210

About the author

Gottfried von Strassburg (died c. 1210) is the author of the Middle High German courtly romance Tristan, an adaptation of the 12th-century Tristan and Iseult legend. Gottfried's work is regarded, alongside the Nibelungenlied and Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, as one of the great narrative masterpieces of the German Middle Ages. He is probably also the composer of a small number of surviving lyrics. His work became a source of inspiration for Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde (1865).

Reviews

[Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Sterne einfach nur weil Königin Isolde den Truchsessen so dermaßen zusammengefaltet hat.

[Alastair]

I get that Gottfried is a fucking savage but does he really need to stop his story mid-flow just to roast people that have been dead for 800 years?

Still, enjoyable read - better than Iwein.

[jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich kann nemmer. Wie Isolde den Truchsessen in Grund und Boden gedisst hat, einfach fein. Sucks to be him.
Und was ist Tristan bitte für ein Lügenbaron? Der lügt ja, dass sich die Balken biegen. King, dass er sich das alles merken kann. Komme schon bei der kleinsten Notlüge durcheinander. Jz bin ich aber ready für die ultimative minne :P

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tolles Buch, hab's für ein Seminar an der Uni gelesen und bin schon gespannt auf Teil 2! Die Übersetzung hat mir gut gefallen, sie ist sehr verständlich und lässt sich flüssig lesen.

[Asuman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I realized that the last time I read a medieval chivalric romance was almost three decades ago, so I am immensely happy to have chosen to read the Gottfried Von Strassburg adaptation of Tristan and Isolde's story rather than Joseph Bédier's retelling "The Romance of Tristan and Iseult", particularly due to Jessie Laidlay Weston's unequalled translation.

Bédier's account is based on different resources, mainly French, and brought together meticulously to retell the story. Hilaire Belloc's translation (1904) is fitting to that of prose; while there are rhyming words, I could not really get that poetic feel, touch and taste for the most part despite his efforts to compensate for it by inverted syntax. I think this is in part because he preferred contemporary English throughout the work and stuck to the prose form. 

Jessie L. Weston's translation, however, is a marvel; you'd think that you are reading the work in its original language- considering that it is a translation from German: 

Her dialogues are in Early Modern English, so if you are partial to reading your medieval romance adorned with "dost, thou, thee, wouldst, hither, whence, ere, wherefore, wilt, yea...",  this is the version to read:

 Then, as Iseult still wept, Mark said: Dearest, tell me what vexeth thee, why dost thou weep ? ”

“Well may I weep, and much cause have I to lament. I am but a woman, and have but one body and soul, and both have I so given over to thee and to thy love that l care for none beside..."

Yet, she narrates the accounts in fluid Modern English- still at times keeping the inverted syntax adding more to the poetic expression: 

When night fell, then were matters ‘wrought even as Iseult had planned.

She is poetic not only in translating dialogues but also in paragraphs, too:

Fearful, she looked up to them: “Sirs, of your pity, what will ye do to me?”

So he set sail, with but eight men who had set their lives upon the venture; and Mark looked lone and sadly after them, for all the joy of his life had sailed hence with Tristan.*

 

*Do you, too, feel the  the iambic meter in the prose besides the rhyme?

I loved this work in its entirety; not only the adventures, themes of chivalry, values, morality, valor, honor, fate, but also the way Weston handled the translation.  I loved that Weston remained loyal to the period of the story, tradition of the language and probably to Strassburg's style. This is why I found Westons' work more poetic and fitting to a chivalric romance which was fluid, musical and captivating.
- -
The edition I read is a two-volume book and both of which are available on public domain internetarchives.org:

Vol I:  "The story of Tristan and Iseult", by Gottfried von Strassburg, translated by Jessie L. Weston (with designs by Caroline Watts), 1902, by publisher David Nutt

  

Vol II:   1899,  publisher :New York : The New Amsterdam Book Co.

Exactly same content also available in:

Vol I & II: "The story of Tristan [and] Iseult", 1907 edition, by publisher David Nutt 

[Julia Waeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this Middle High German story about Isolde and Tristan who fall in love after accidentally drinking a magic love potion and their cunning tricks that help them conceal their secret relationship!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 stars

Enjoyed it much more than anticipated! I like it more than Eilhart's work on Tristan to be honest. I'm about to start the second one and getting into the "Minne" of it all, let's see how Straßburg wrote it.

[artrynsic]

ich mag die spielmännische Version viel lieber als die höfische :P

[Nadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Medieval chivalric romances for the win.
Dieser Text lohnt sich allein schon wegen Königin Isolde, die einfach die mittelalterliche Verkörperung einer Ikone ist.

[Jana1105 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tristan is the mightiest but queen Isolde and her daughter may be even mightier ✨

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dafür, dass ich kein großer Versromanen-Fan bin, konnte ich der Handlung gut folgen, auch wenn die Erzählweise nicht ganz meinen Geschmack getroffen hat. Besonders die Überspitzung von Tristans etlichen Talenten oder Isoldes unvergleichbaren Schönheit hat mein Interesse an den Figuren deutlich geschmälert. Ich denke aber, genau das macht den Charme dieser Sage aus, auch wenn es stellenweise wirklich ermüdend war. Ich bin gespannt auf den folgenden Teil, da nach Tristans Vorgeschichte nun die eigentlichen Konflikte beginnen.

2,0 Sterne

[ChristinaJL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in Middle High German at university.

[Antonia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Isolde einfach savage (Mutter und Tochter)