Perceval, the Story of the Grail

Perceval is an Aurthurian legend about, you guessed it, Perceval (and also a bunch of other knights, namely Gawain). It's the origin of the Holy Grail legend, which is pretty dope. It was also fun trying to spot parts that inspired later authors.

Old J.R.R. of Tolkien fame took some ideas from this, such as the idea of a broken sword that must be reforged, which is also on the dope side of things. There’s a scene where Perceval (or Gawain, I can’t remember which) sees fires and people partying at night in the distance, but when he gets to them they vanish like the elves in Mirkwood Forest from The Hobbit.

Old C.S. of Lewis fame also directly used ideas from Perceval in That Hideous Strength. But I think he also got the idea for a show more scene in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader when dishes float around of their own accord and serve people at a table. In Perceval, at one point, the Holy Grail floats around and serves everyone at a table.

It was also interesting to realize that Perceval is doing a very similar thing as modern fantasy books. It was written in the late 12th century, but it is set in a much older time. It has plenty of fantastical elements such as supernatural objects, monsters, demons, and all that fun stuff.

Perceval also does the thing that modern books sometimes do of pretending they are telling a true, historical story even though everyone knows it is just made up. The author (or rather multiple authors who kept having to pick up where the last one left off) will say things like “my source book tells me” or “I’m not lying, I promise you, this really happened yo!”

Aside from that, there are a lot of cool scenarios both supernatural and otherwise in the book. There’s lots of fun jousts and swordfights and surprisingly graphic violence all around. There’s people carrying bleeding lances. There’s a bed that, if you lay in it, triggers a bunch of arrows to shoot at you. My favorite chapter had this castle that was besieged by 40 knights who could be killed for a day, but they would resurrect overnight to attack the next day.

So plenty of good stuff, but there were also plenty of bad things as well. It’s very long and extremely meandering.

But the worst thing was the depiction and treatment of women in the book. There is a good deal of sexual assault, and not always perpetrated by the bad guys. There’s even a knight (who is mostly a bad guy) who says that women pretend to not like SA but that it is what they actually want. It’s horrifying that such a vile idea has been around forever, apparently. Considering all the negative parts of Perceval, I can’t recommend it. show less

ENGL214BE FA25

bro what do you mean this is unfinished that's crazy how dare Chrétien De Troyes die before finishing this
kind of funny i can't lie. why is perceval Like That and why is this actually more gawain's story than anything.

The unfinished Arthurian verse romance by Chrétien de Troyes, written c. 1181. Perceval, a naive Welsh youth, journeys to become a knight and encounters the mysterious Fisher King and the Holy Grail. The first and most influential account of the Grail legend. In Old French.

Storage 2025

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Extensive pencil and ink glosses

Opmerkelijke tweedeling : cyclus rond Perceval en cyclus rond Walewein.
Hoofdopzet van het gedicht is zeker didactisch : concreet laten zien wat hoofs gedrag is. De invulling daarvan varieert nogal : dat gaat van voornaam en edel, naar ronduit christelijk, en in elk geval « naar het hart ».
Het Graalthema bindt in lichte mate de twee verhalen van Perceval en Walewein, maar speelt eigenlijk maar een secundaire rol. Het wordt zeker niet zo mystiek uitgewerkt, als in latere perioden !
Opmerkelijk zijn de verschillende toonzettingen : het eerste stuk over Perceval is onderhoudend en amusant, zelfs heel schertsend en humorvol ; de cyclus over Walewein is daarentegen ernstiger, met meer aandacht voor het fantastische dan de psychologie. show more Sommige stukken (cfr 10) zijn gewoon drammerig en plots heel religieus getint. Groot contrast met de soms vrijmoedige beschrijving van de relatie tussen ridder en jonkvrouw (steevast « vriendinnen » genoemd).

Opvallend : enkele antisemitische uitvallen ! show less