| A Discourse for the Holy Grail in Old French Romance Contributor(s): Ramm, Ben (Author) |
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ISBN: 1843841096 ISBN-13: 9781843841098 Publisher: Boydell & Brewer OUR PRICE: $90.25 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: January 2007 Annotation: The Holy Grail made its first literary appearance in the work of the twelfth-century French poet, Chrtien de Troyes, and continues to fascinate authors and audiences alike. This study, supported by a theoretical framework based on the psychoanalytic works of Jacques Lacan and the cultural theory of Slavoj Zizek, aims to strip the legend of much of the mythological and folkloric association that it has acquired over the centuries, arguing that the Grail should be read as a symptom of disruption and obscurity rather than fulfilment and revelation. Focusing on two thirteenth-century Arthurian prose romances, La Queste del Saint Graal and Perlesvaus, and drawing extensively on the wider field of Old French Grail literature including the works of Chrtien and Robert de Boron, the book examines the personal, social and textual effects produced by encounters with the Grail in order to suggest that the Grail itself is instrumental not only in creating, but also in disturbing, the discursive, psychic and cultural bonds that are represented in this complex and captivating literary tradition. BEN RAMM is Research Fellow in French, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Medieval |
| Dewey: 840.938 |
| Series: Gallica |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 9.3" W x 6.3" (1.00 lbs) 192 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - Medieval (500-1453) |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The Holy Grail made its first literary appearance in the work of the twelfth-century French poet, Chrétien de Troyes, and continues to fascinate authors and audiences alike. This study, supported by a theoretical framework based on the psychoanalytic works of Jacques Lacan and the cultural theory of Slavoj Zizek, aims to strip the legend of much of the mythological and folkloric association that it has acquired over the centuries, arguing that the Grail should be read as a symptom of disruption and obscurity rather than fulfilment and revelation. Focusing on two thirteenth-century Arthurian prose romances, La Queste del Saint Graal and Perlesvaus, and drawing extensively on the wider field of Old French Grail literature including the works of Chrétien and Robert de Boron, the book examines the personal, social and textual effects produced by encounters with the Grail in order to suggestthat the Grail itself is instrumental not only in creating but also in disturbing, the discursive, psychic and cultural bonds that are represented in this complex and captivating literary tradition. BEN RAMM is ResearchFellow in French, St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. |