The romantic poems of 12th-century French poet Chretien de Troyes were of immense influence across Europe - widely imitated, translated, and adapted. Giving rise to a tradition of story-telling that continues to this day, the poems established the shape of the nascent Arthurian legend. In this translation of "Lancelot", Burton Raffel brings to English language readers the fourth of Chretien's five surviving romantic Arthurian poems. This poem was the first to introduce Lancelot as an important figure in the King Arthur ...
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The romantic poems of 12th-century French poet Chretien de Troyes were of immense influence across Europe - widely imitated, translated, and adapted. Giving rise to a tradition of story-telling that continues to this day, the poems established the shape of the nascent Arthurian legend. In this translation of "Lancelot", Burton Raffel brings to English language readers the fourth of Chretien's five surviving romantic Arthurian poems. This poem was the first to introduce Lancelot as an important figure in the King Arthur legend. "Lancelot" tells of the adulterous relationship between the knight and his mistress, Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur. Thematically this poem differs from Chretien's other romances - Lancelot and Guinevere'slove is a serious crime against their king, Lancelot casts aside his knightly ideals and reputation for the sake of his beloved. and Arthur is endowed with a weaker personality. Raffel has created a three-stress metric verse from that captures Chretien's narrative and old French.
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Seller's Description:
Good-Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name-GOOD Standard-sized.
Just as the title says, this is an excellent translation of this medieval tale. It is in verse, but don't let that scare you off. I've found it an easier and more pleasant read than the prose translations I've read of Lancelot. I have a full review on my website here: http://www.tkguthat.com/1/post/2011/07/what-im-reading-lancelot-the-knight-of-the-cart.html
