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Lancelot du Lac
L'enlèvement de Guenièvre
Avec ce volume se poursuit la publication du grand roman de Lancelot du Lac (début du XIIIe siècle) dont les trois premiers tomes ont déjà paru dans la collection Lettres gothiques. L'ensemble a une unité, mais chaque partie peut se lire indépendamment des autres.
Ici l'oeuvre reprend et intègre à sa matière l'histoire du Chevalier de la Charette, le célèbre roman en vers de Chrétien de Troyes grâce auquel Lancelot avait fait, un demi-siècle auparavant, son entrée dans la littérature française. On retrouve donc ici l'enlèvement de Guenièvre par Méléagant et sa délivrance par Lancelot qui, pour l'amour d'elle, accepte, au prix de son déshonneur, de monter dans la charrette, seule capable de le conduire à elle. Les connaisseurs de la littérature du Moyen Age trouveront le plus grand intérêt à la comparaison entre les deux versions. Mais tous les lecteurs se laisseront emporter avec délices dans le tourbillon des aventures, de l'amour, des combats, des dangers, de la fidélité et de la trahison, de la magie et du merveilleux.
Ici l'oeuvre reprend et intègre à sa matière l'histoire du Chevalier de la Charette, le célèbre roman en vers de Chrétien de Troyes grâce auquel Lancelot avait fait, un demi-siècle auparavant, son entrée dans la littérature française. On retrouve donc ici l'enlèvement de Guenièvre par Méléagant et sa délivrance par Lancelot qui, pour l'amour d'elle, accepte, au prix de son déshonneur, de monter dans la charrette, seule capable de le conduire à elle. Les connaisseurs de la littérature du Moyen Age trouveront le plus grand intérêt à la comparaison entre les deux versions. Mais tous les lecteurs se laisseront emporter avec délices dans le tourbillon des aventures, de l'amour, des combats, des dangers, de la fidélité et de la trahison, de la magie et du merveilleux.
- GenresFrance
800 pages, Pocket Book
First published January 1, 1225
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August 1, 2014
This is the fifth volume (so far five volumes have been published; the series remains unfinished) of a facing page Old French / Modern French edition of the medieval French Lancelot in prose. This volume (text established by Yvan G. Lepage, translated into modern French by Marie-Louise Ollier) consists of the long version of the "Charrette" (the "Knight of the Cart") and "Suite de la Charrette" episodes of the medieval prose Lancelot. This edition is based upon the 14th century London, BL Royal 20 D.IV manuscript (emended/corrected by consulting other manuscripts) which was also the basis of the previous volume in the series.
A reminder: volumes I & II (Lancelot du Lac and Lancelot Du Lac T02) in this series present the "noncyclic" or "pre-cyclic" Lancelot story as it exists in the 13th century BN fr 768 manuscript. From volume III on, this series presents the "cyclic" prose Lancelot, volume III (Lancelot Du Lac T03 La Fausse Guenievre) developing in greater detail an episode from volume II, and volumes IV (Le Val des amants infidèles) and V (the present book) continuing uninterrupted from there. At 800 pages (including the lengthy introduction), this volume is significantly longer than all the previous volumes, except for volume I (926 pages).
This volume begins immediately where volume IV ended (the death of Galehaut): it starts with the "Knight of the Cart" episodes (the "charrette" episodes in the prose Lancelot are a re-working of the 12th century Chrétien de Troyes romance, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette, in which Guenièvre is kidnapped by the knight Meleagant; and Lancelot - who seeks to deliver her - is forced to shame himself by riding in the back of a cart), together with adventures by Bohort/Bors and others; we then begin the long quest of Gawain and the 12 companions to find out if Lancelot has been killed (his armor was seen worn by another knight), which includes the "Gawain at Corbenic" episode (in which Gawain is the first of Arthur's knights to see the grail and fails to act appropriately); the volume ends abruptly with a short adventure by the reprehensible Mordred.
While the many scenes of jousts and knightly combats, castles with curious customs, weeping maidens, pavilions in the middle of lonely forests, and violent tournaments may strike readers as unduly repetitive, the magic, mystery and adventure of the narrative largely makes up for that. (And indeed, in terms of massively popular adventure genre fiction, it seems to me that a case could be made comparing what one imagines the Lancelot stories were for their 13th-14th century audience to, say, Westerns for the 20th century reader/listener/watcher, both in terms of repetitions/tropes (horse/lance//horse/gun, joust//shootout, castle//dusty town, etc.) and for the narrative joys of adventuresome heroes in a mythologized past facing foes, dangers and moral conundrums...) What's more, with this tome the reader is now 3000+ pages (two-thirds of the way) into the massive prose Lancelot, and the sheer magnitude of the story and the narrative control (characters returning hundred of pages after their first appearance, vows fulfilled volumes after being made...) of the author(s) is manifest: characters start acquiring more depth; the narration calls attention to their sins and flaws; the doom that hangs over Arthur's court, Mordred, Lancelot, Gawain is ever more apparent. If a comparison to the modern massive and popular Harry Potter series is permitted: this is "Order of the Phoenix" territory.
Sadly, Lettres Gothiques has not yet edited/published the final episodes of the prose Lancelot, the so-called "Agravain" section (which includes the conception & birth of Galahad, and Lancelot once again imprisoned by Morgan), that follows this book and which leads directly to the Grail Quest.
(French readers can also find a complete bilingual edition of the "short cyclic" prose Lancelot in volumes 2 - 3 of the three volume Pléiade edition of the Lancelot-Grail cycle (I: Le livre du Graal. Joseph d'Arimathie - Merlin - Les premiers faits du Roi Arthur, II: Le livre du Graal - Tome 2, and III: Le livre du Graal - Tome 3), edited by Daniel Poirion and based entirely on the Bonn UB 526 manuscript. Non-French speakers interested in the material can find the complete "long cyclic" and "post-vulgate" version of the Lancelot-Grail cycle edited by Norris J. Lacy, now in paperback; the prose Lancelot covers volumes 3 - 5 of that series (3: Lancelot, Parts I and II, 4: Lancelot, Parts III and IV, 5: Lancelot, Parts V and VI).
A reminder: volumes I & II (Lancelot du Lac and Lancelot Du Lac T02) in this series present the "noncyclic" or "pre-cyclic" Lancelot story as it exists in the 13th century BN fr 768 manuscript. From volume III on, this series presents the "cyclic" prose Lancelot, volume III (Lancelot Du Lac T03 La Fausse Guenievre) developing in greater detail an episode from volume II, and volumes IV (Le Val des amants infidèles) and V (the present book) continuing uninterrupted from there. At 800 pages (including the lengthy introduction), this volume is significantly longer than all the previous volumes, except for volume I (926 pages).
This volume begins immediately where volume IV ended (the death of Galehaut): it starts with the "Knight of the Cart" episodes (the "charrette" episodes in the prose Lancelot are a re-working of the 12th century Chrétien de Troyes romance, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette, in which Guenièvre is kidnapped by the knight Meleagant; and Lancelot - who seeks to deliver her - is forced to shame himself by riding in the back of a cart), together with adventures by Bohort/Bors and others; we then begin the long quest of Gawain and the 12 companions to find out if Lancelot has been killed (his armor was seen worn by another knight), which includes the "Gawain at Corbenic" episode (in which Gawain is the first of Arthur's knights to see the grail and fails to act appropriately); the volume ends abruptly with a short adventure by the reprehensible Mordred.
While the many scenes of jousts and knightly combats, castles with curious customs, weeping maidens, pavilions in the middle of lonely forests, and violent tournaments may strike readers as unduly repetitive, the magic, mystery and adventure of the narrative largely makes up for that. (And indeed, in terms of massively popular adventure genre fiction, it seems to me that a case could be made comparing what one imagines the Lancelot stories were for their 13th-14th century audience to, say, Westerns for the 20th century reader/listener/watcher, both in terms of repetitions/tropes (horse/lance//horse/gun, joust//shootout, castle//dusty town, etc.) and for the narrative joys of adventuresome heroes in a mythologized past facing foes, dangers and moral conundrums...) What's more, with this tome the reader is now 3000+ pages (two-thirds of the way) into the massive prose Lancelot, and the sheer magnitude of the story and the narrative control (characters returning hundred of pages after their first appearance, vows fulfilled volumes after being made...) of the author(s) is manifest: characters start acquiring more depth; the narration calls attention to their sins and flaws; the doom that hangs over Arthur's court, Mordred, Lancelot, Gawain is ever more apparent. If a comparison to the modern massive and popular Harry Potter series is permitted: this is "Order of the Phoenix" territory.
Sadly, Lettres Gothiques has not yet edited/published the final episodes of the prose Lancelot, the so-called "Agravain" section (which includes the conception & birth of Galahad, and Lancelot once again imprisoned by Morgan), that follows this book and which leads directly to the Grail Quest.
(French readers can also find a complete bilingual edition of the "short cyclic" prose Lancelot in volumes 2 - 3 of the three volume Pléiade edition of the Lancelot-Grail cycle (I: Le livre du Graal. Joseph d'Arimathie - Merlin - Les premiers faits du Roi Arthur, II: Le livre du Graal - Tome 2, and III: Le livre du Graal - Tome 3), edited by Daniel Poirion and based entirely on the Bonn UB 526 manuscript. Non-French speakers interested in the material can find the complete "long cyclic" and "post-vulgate" version of the Lancelot-Grail cycle edited by Norris J. Lacy, now in paperback; the prose Lancelot covers volumes 3 - 5 of that series (3: Lancelot, Parts I and II, 4: Lancelot, Parts III and IV, 5: Lancelot, Parts V and VI).
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