The Grail, the Quest, and the World of Arthur

The idea of the quest, crucial to Arthurian literature, investigated in texts, manuscripts, and film.

The idea of the quest, crucial to Arthurian literature, investigated in texts, manuscripts, and film.

The theme of the quest in Arthurian literature - mainly but not exclusively the Grail quest - is explored in the essays presented here, covering French, Dutch, Norse, German, and English texts. A number of the essays trace the relationship, often negative, between Arthurian chivalry and the Grail ethos. Whereas most of the contributors reflect on the popularity of the Grail quest, several examine the comparative rarity of the Grail in certain literatures and define the elaboration of quest motifs severed from the Grail material. An appendix to the volume offers a filmography that includes all the cinematic treatments of the Grail, either as central theme or minor motif.

This book will appeal to students, scholars, and general readers fascinated by the Arthurian and Grail legends.

CONTRIBUTORS: NORRIS J. LACY, ANTONIO FURTADO, WILL HASTY, RICHARD TRACHSLER, MARIANNE E. KALINKE, MARTINE MEUWESE, DAVID F. JOHNSON, PHILLIP BOARDMAN, CAROLINE D. ECKHARDT, P.J.C. FIELD, JAMES P. CARLEY, RICHARD BARBER, KEVIN J. HARTY

Foreword - Norris J. Lacy
Introduction: Arthur and/or the Grail - Norris J. Lacy
The Shape of the Grail in Medieval Art - Martine Meuwese
The Crusaders' Grail - Antonio L. Furtado
Bounds of Imagination: Grail Questing and Chivalric Colonizing in Wolfram von Eschenbach'sParzival - Will Hasty
The Land Without the Grail: A Note on Occitania, Rigaut de Barbezieux and Literary History - Richard Trachsler
Female Desire and the Quest in the Icelandic Legend of Tristram and Ísodd - Marianne Kalinke
Questing in the Middle DutchLancelot Compilation - David F. Johnson
Keeping Company: Manuscript Contexts for Reading Arthurian Quest Narratives - Caroline Eckhardt
Grail and Quest in the Medieval English World of Arthur - Phillip C Boardman
Malory and the Grail: The Importance of Detail - Peter J.C. Field
Glastonbury, the Grail-Bearer and the Sixteenth-Century Antiquaries - James Carley
The Grail Quest: Where Next? - Richard Barber
Appendix: The Grail on Film - Kevin J Harty