The Quest of the Holy Grail – Penguin Classics
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.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Spring of wisdom and inspiration
This book is special for me.
Now I feel like Galahad, Perceval and Bors would always stay in my heart.
Being part of a busy everyday city life this book carries you away from it, somewhere very far away, and somewhere within you.
The way heroes of this book act while facing their trials is very very inspiring and is presented in such a way that you question yourself: "How can it be otherwise?"
For those who are interested to understand the Bible on a deeper level, it does explain some of the Christian symbols and parables.
Fantastic book, I would give more than 5 stars, but unfortunately that's not an option.
5 Stars Excellent Scholarship and Exceptional Work
This is a heavily Christianized version of the famous Grail legend. I say that because the Quest of the Holy Grail was written about by many throughout the ages – and this version is probably the most distant from the Celtic pagan tradition. The commentary and notes are excellent – and Pauline Matarasso's insight into the theology and symbolism of the work isextremely entertaining and enlightening. Her theory that the book may have been written by a Cistercian monk based on clues in the text is also interesting given the number of scriptural references and mystical overtones. One of the best of its kind.
5 Stars The story of man's utter self-abandonment to God
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.
4 Stars lovely book, needs an update
Lovely book. The text is vastly different than a modern work of literature (perspective, emotion, time, etc.) but it remains quite beautiful and moving, and is a central text in our western heritage.
A modern reader will find some passages strange and difficult to accept at face value. For example, knights and persons that appear from nowhere, floating apparitions, flame throwing serpents, interpretations of dreams, and commonplace miracles (an oxymoron) all occur with some frequency. Also, if you've seen Monty Python's film version, it's hard not laugh out loud when reading certain sections (the peril is too perilous!). However, this book puts one into the medieval mind like nothing else.
The reviewers here have focused almost entirely on the religious aspect of this book; however, the text also describes the chivalric code of the knights… an important detail. Their notions of "prowess", shame, honor, love, and masculinity are all there. One can easily see that this story was written by a monk or holy man in order to constrain the "noble violence" that the knights inflicted on themselves and others.
One beef, however, Penguin really needs to update this edition. It was published in 1969 and the introduction, notes and references need sprucing up to include new scholarship and to reference terms that readers today may have trouble with, for example, the Christian calendar: Advent, Pentecost or Whitsunday may befuddle those unfamiliar with it. Otherwise, this book is a must read for serious readers, students of fantasy literature, or those interested in western history.
5 Stars Great for Harry Potter Lovers or Reading to Kids
This wonderful work–a medieval religious guide hidden as an Arthurian romance–hits all the right buttons: morality stories, lessons on good triumphing against great odds, and a firm religiosity focusing on faith and works (yes, it would be considered Catholic nowadays, but that was the only game in town in the 13th c.). The moral that's stuck with me is that how Lancelot was a good knight, but could have been so much better had he stuck to his ideals.
I've read this to 7-9 y.o.'s in a summer camp and they loved it. I've assigned it to undergrads and they universally thought it was a wonderful read. If you have a teen or pre-teen who is into Harry Potter, throw this at him/her, along with Cretien de Troyes.
One more thing–maybe a quibble, but some reviewers have called this a novel. It's not. The novel did not come into existence as a separate literary form until much later. The big difference is that the romance is based on the oral and literary traditions of previous centuries that extend back hundreds of years, while the novel was something new–new characters, new scenarios, new settings. Also, while "fictional" to us, Arthurian material wasn't necessary so at the time works like the Quest were written. Contemporaries believed that maybe parts were embellished, but the figures were real.
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