Table Of Content´
CHRETIEN CONTINUED
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Chre´tien Continued
A Study of the Conte du Graal
and its Verse Continuations
MATILDA TOMARYN BRUCKNER
1
3
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a` mes plus que pe`res et me`re
John J. McCann, Peter Haidu, and Nancy Freeman Regalado
mentors par excellence
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Preface
Thisbookgrowsoutofacertainsenseofdissatisfaction,thatothersideofdesire.
HavingavoidedwritingontheConteduGraalforagoodpartofmycareer,given
its unWnished state and the thorny question of religion’s role, which frequently
leads to readings that place the complex ambiguity of Chre´tien’s romance on a
reductiverack ofallegorical explication,Ipreferred toavoid Percevalin favor of
Chre´tien’s other romances. But the Conte eventually proved irresistible: once
Keith Busby, Douglas Kelly, and Norris Lacy asked me to write a chapter on
intertextuality for The Legacy of Chre´tien de Troyes, I could no longer avoid its
claimsasItackleditsrelationshiptothePercevalContinuations.
Dissatisfaction and desire combined to make me, like so many others, a
prisoner of what continues to seem like the unattainable achievement of the
Grail, no matter how many endings accumulate for Chre´tien’s initial romance.
But I determined to Wnd a better way—better at least from my critical view-
point—to deal with the issues of religion atypically inserted into the Arthurian
world,amoresatisfyingwaytounderstandhowtheyrelatetotheotherpartsof
Chre´tien’s romance. Through analysis of narrative and structure, I followed the
religiousstrandsinconjunctionwithothermajorthreadsoftheromance,courtly
and chivalric issues that caught my puzzled attention, especially points of
contradiction that marked the paths of my (re)reading and, it seemed to me,
that of successive continuators who were also reading Chre´tien. Eventually I
discoveredthattheapparentlyrandomaccumulationofarticlesandpaperssuch
analyses generated, at Wrstindependent of each other,later broughttogether, in
factretracedthethree-partsetsofadvicePercevalreceivedthreetimes—asifeven
we dull readers, like the simpleton Perceval, must eventually get the message,
unconsciouslyandthen,ifwearepersistent,moreconsciouslyandperhapsmore
constructively.
Hence this book and my argument, pursued from chapter to chapter, that
Chre´tien’s authorship appears (however surprisingly for modern readers) not
onlyinthe9,000versesofhisunWnishedromancebutacrossfourcontinuations
whosesuccessiveauthorsfollowtheguidinghandinscribedin‘theoldPerceval’.
I do not spend much time at the Grail Castle: it has already received so much
attention. I have preferred to look elsewhere to pursue less obvious points of
dialoguebetweenChre´tienandthecontinuators.Butthereagainyouwillseethat
I have eventually been lured back to the Fisher King’s castle and the Grail, as
I move toward the end of this quest. And so, this is not a book about the
Grail...thoughitisabookabouttheStoryoftheGrail.
In pursuit of that story, I have beneWted from the help and support of many
people and institutions. I would Wrst like to thank the presses who granted me
viii Preface
permission to reproduce material from already published articles: Editions
Rodopi,Rowman&LittleWeld,LibrairieDroz,Ku¨mmerleVerlag,andPalgrave
Macmillan.PartsofChapter1arebasedonBruckner(2006a);Bruckner(1996)
forms the basis of Chapter 3. Earlier stages of the fourth chapter appear in
Bruckner(1999),(2003a),and(2003b).Finally,Bruckner(2000a)providesthe
startingpointforChapter5.
IwouldalsoliketoexpressmygratitudetotheBibliothe`quenationaledeFrance
forpermissiontoreproducethemanuscriptimagesthatappearonthedustjacket
and throughout the book. In particular, Iwould like to thank Philippe Aveline
who steered me to the wonderful transferability of digital images and saved me
fromtheproblemsofmistakenordersandtheperilsofinternationaldelivery.
Amongcolleaguesandfriends,mypersonalandprofessionalthanksgoWrstto
Douglas, Keith, and Norris, who started me on this path and supported me in
multiplewaysalongthebywaysthatledWnallytoendingit.Iamalsogratefultoa
number of colleagues who read parts of the manuscript in the form of earlier
papersandarticles,oraschaptersintheprocessofrevisionforthebook:Ihave
beneWtedgreatlyfromthefeedbackofVirginieGreeneandSophieMarnetteon
Chapter 1, Zrinka Stahuljak on Chapters 2 and 3, Peggy McCracken who
encountered an early form of the conclusion when she invitedme to speak in a
session at Kalamazoo on ‘Gender and the Grail’ and a version of Chapter 3
presented to the Medieval Seminar at the University of Michigan in October
2005. My thanks to all the participants in that seminar for their receptive eyes
and ears: Elizabeth Allen, Theresa Coletti, Kathy Lavezzo, Paula Leverage, and
AndreaTarnowski.Inparticular,IwouldliketothankKathyforhersuggestion
thatthe imageofthelady andthe tentmightserve asanemblem formyentire
book.
Several friends and colleagues were instrumentalin introducing me to diVer-
entWeldsofstudyconnectedtothisproject.FransvanLierewasmostgenerousin
sharingwithmehisexpertiseintheareasofbiblicalreceptionandexegesisinthe
MiddleAges.DrJosephYoungermangavemeadviceandhisowncollectionof
books and articles for my introduction to the works and theories of Melanie
Klein. An anonymous reader for OUP encouraged me to situate the Perceval
ContinuationsinthewidercontextofGrailstories(particularlybutnotonlyin
the English tradition), in order to show their common concerns and open my
booktoawidergroupofreaderswhocouldbeneWtfromanoverviewofhowthe
versecontinuationscontributetolaterrewritingsoftheGrailstory.Toallofthem
IoVermygratitudeandthanks.
SimonGaunt,whoservedasoneofthereadersforOUP,wasequallygenerousin
hissupportformybook,notleastinrecognizingtheimportanceofrediscovering
theWrstGrailromanceinitsmedievalcontextaspartofanensembleofromance
continuations brought into alignment in a variety of medieval compilations.
IoVer him heartfelt thanks bothforspeciWc suggestions for the revision process
(includingintegrationofmanuscriptillustrations),aswellashisgeneralconcern
Preface ix
that the book be accessible to readers beyond the usual suspects of Chre´tien
devotees.IthankOxfordUniversityPressforacceptinghisandtheotherreader’s
recommendations. As I have passed successively through the expert hands of
Valerie Shelley, Andrew McNeillie, and Jacqueline Baker, each of my editors at
OUPhasservedasavaluableguide.Mythankstoallofthemfortheirsupport,
patience, and precision. I would also like to thank Jennifer Dunn, a doctoral
studentatBostonCollegewhoseworkonorganizingtheindexwasindispensable.
Thanks and gratitude for technical support go as well to Robyn Ochs in the
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University,
where Iwas a Visiting Professor of French through the Wnal stages of preparing
allthematerialsforpublication.AsIthinkbacktothebeginningofthisprocess,
IcannotforgetSarahKaywhosuggestedthatIconsiderpublishingwithOxford:
aspecialthankyouforherconWdenceandencouragement.
Support received in the form of grants, not to mention letters of recommen-
dation for grant proposals, played an important role in helping me secure the
extendedtimeneededtobringsuchalarge-scaleprojecttoitsconclusion.Warm
thanksforthethanklesstaskofwritingthoselettersgoestoE.JaneBurns,Kevin
Brownlee, Peter Haidu, David Hult, Douglas Kelly, Peggy McCracken, and
Nancy Freeman Regalado. I am grateful to Boston College for awarding me a
numberofresearchfellowships,grants,andsabbaticals,aswellastotheNational
Endowment for the Humanities for naming me a Fellow for the calendar year
2006. Please note that any views, Wndings, conclusions, or recommendations
expressed in this book do not necessarily reXect those of the National Endow-
mentfortheHumanities.
Words will not be suYcient but must nevertheless be pressed into service to
thank most particularly Peter Haidu and Nancy Regalado, two friends and
colleagues who have been my constant teachers and mentors over many years.
Both of them read the complete manuscript in its earliest state and helped me
discover what I had left unsaid, unexplained, unarticulated, unjustiWed. My
revisions may not have answered all their questions nor reached their highest
standards, but the Wnal shape of this book owes them both a debt of gratitude
that cannot Wnally be repaid. To Peter, my thanks for the intellectual nourish-
ment he has unfailingly oVered and my gratitude for his ever sharp critique
combined with unshakable enthusiasm for my work. To Nancy, my thanks for
herever-renewedgiftofselfexpressedinanuncannyabilitytoputherselfinthe
service of another person’s point of view, to search out every nook and cranny,
from titles to stylistic tics, from the general argument to speciWc details, as she
forcedmetoWgureoutwhatIwastryingtosay.Thisbookisdedicatedtothem
andtoJohnJ.McCann,friendofmanyyears,myearliestmentorandWrstFrench
teacher who back in high school inspired me and put me on the ‘droit chemin’
whose curious twists and turns I continue to follow. My deepest thanks to all
three.
Description:Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner provides the first book-length examination of all four verse continuations that follow Chr?tien's unfinished Grail story, a powerful site of rewriting from the late twelfth through the fifteenth centuries. By focusing on the dialogue between Chr?tien and the verse continuato
