The Quest of the Holy Grail (Penguin Classics)
by Anonymous
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Book Summary Information
Author: AnonymousTranslator: Pauline M. Matarasso
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); French (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1969-02-28
ISBN: 0140442200
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of The Quest of the Holy Grail (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: The story of man's utter self-abandonment to God
Summary: 5 Stars
Although choppy at times, and the characters seem to be superhuman in terms of combat and piety, this remarkable book is useful on a number of levels.
What many reviewers fail to note is that this book was intended primarily to be a manual on spiritual growth, not to tell stories of great knights. Given the original audience, this makes sense. The average peasant in the 12th century would not be able to follow scholastic reasoning, but they would be able to follow a story of heroism and spiritual warfare.
This book anticipates many of the elements of the future novel: numerous side-plots where the characters branch off but stay united through the author's skillful weaving of the different strands of the narrative. This allows the author to simultaneously develop different characters, build the plot, and release tension at different climaxes without stealing his thunder for the ultimate Grail climax.
Evaluation:
Modern day readers, whether Protestant or Catholic, will chafe at some of the author's theology. The author, in line with medieval ethics, viewed sex and Concupiscence in a negative light (the author's exegesis of the Genesis account would not stand today's scrutiny).
It would probably pay well to read this in light of Tennyson's account. The Grail story for our author here speaks of redemption (if sometimes in an extreme semi-Pelagian sense) as a reality and man's goal as utter self-abandonment to God. Tennyson, being a respectable Victorian, does not have a sense of redemption (but ironically, a strong sense of sin) and views man's goal as respectability in society. In terms of ethics, let's stick with the 12th century Grail account.
Summary of The Quest of the Holy Grail (Penguin Classics)
Composed by an unknown author in early thirteenth-century France, "The Quest of the Holy Grail" is a fusion of Arthurian legend and Christian symbolism, reinterpreting ancient Celtic myth as a profound spiritual fable. It recounts the quest of the knights of Camelot - the simple Perceval, the thoughtful Bors, the rash Gawain, the weak Lancelot and the saintly Galahad - as they journey through danger and temptation to reach the elusive Holy Grail. But only one of them is judged worthy to see the mysteries within the sacred vessel, and look upon the ineffable. Enfused with tragic grandeur and an aura of mysticism, "The Quest" is an absorbing and radiant allegory of man's perilous search for divine grace, and had a profound influence on later Arthurian romances and versions of the Grail legend.Classics Books
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