Perceval and the Quest for the Holy Grail

Catalog description

Beginning with Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished Conte du Graal (ca. 1180), we examine the Grail story in its inaugural vernacular form - as a text defined by incompletion, formal ambiguity, and interpretive openness. We then turn to Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival (ca. 1200-1210), which transforms Chretien's enigmatic conte into an architecturally intricate exploration of guilt, grace, kinship, and knightly becoming. The seminar will also attend to the story's remarkable afterlife in literary and artistic adaptation, with students presenting an adaptation of their choosing. Readings and discussion in English.