The Holy Grail : Imagination and Belief

Rating:
Summary: The Holy Grail as a key to self-identity
Review: Richard Barber begins this magisterial study of the Holy Grail archetype with these words: "The Grail is a mysterious and haunting image, which crosses the borders of fiction and literature and which, for eight centuries, has been a recurrent ideal in Western literature"--and, as he makes clear in the book, in Western art, religion, spirituality, and psychology as well. Almost all of us have heard about the Grail (especially recently in all the hype over Dan Brown's thriller "The Da Vinci Code"), but almost none of us really know much about it. This is too bad, because the Grail legend is replete with meaning that gestures at the very core of who we are as humans.

The merits of Barber's book are many, but two in particular stand out. In the first place, he provides an exhaustive and entertaining discussion of the origins of the Grail legend, the various authors (such as Chretien de Troyes, Robert de Boron, and Wolfram von Eschenbach) who popularized the legend in the Middle Ages, and the symbolism behind the legends--how it ties in, for example, with the Eucharist. Secondly, he reflects in insightful and sometimes profound ways on just what the Grail legend means to us today, tracing the modern Grail expressions that abound in art, cinema (yes, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is discussed!), and literature. Barber is especially good at discussing the human longing for perfection and wholeness that the Grail quest symbolizes, and in speculating on why the Grail archetype holds such strong attraction. Part of the key to understanding its appeal lies in the fact that it is a product of the interplay between two essential human characteristics: belief and imagination (hence the book's subtitle). The proper hiding place of the Grail, in other words, is in the liminal space between imagination and belief. In focusing on archetypes such as the Grail, humans explore depths of themselves that otherwise might go unnoticed

The book is wonderfully illustrated--as well it should be, since the Grail has been such a common motif in art--with intertextual black and white reproductions and a center section of color photographs which are really quite breathtaking in their beauty. If you're a long-devoted Grail enthusiast, or if you're just beginning the pilgrimage and want a resource that can help you understand, for example, just who the heck the Fisher King is, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: The Holy Grail as a key to self-identity
Review: Richard Barber begins this magisterial study of the Holy Grail archetype with these words: "The Grail is a mysterious and haunting image, which crosses the borders of fiction and literature and which, for eight centuries, has been a recurrent ideal in Western literature"--and, as he makes clear in the book, in Western art, religion, spirituality, and psychology as well. Almost all of us have heard about the Grail (especially recently in all the hype over Dan Brown's thriller "The Da Vinci Code"), but almost none of us really know much about it. This is too bad, because the Grail legend is replete with meaning that gestures at the very core of who we are as humans.

The merits of Barber's book are many, but two in particular stand out. In the first place, he provides an exhaustive and entertaining discussion of the origins of the Grail legend, the various authors (such as Chretien de Troyes, Robert de Boron, and Wolfram von Eschenbach) who popularized the legend in the Middle Ages, and the symbolism behind the legends--how it ties in, for example, with the Eucharist. Secondly, he reflects in insightful and sometimes profound ways on just what the Grail legend means to us today, tracing the modern Grail expressions that abound in art, cinema (yes, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is discussed!), and literature. Barber is especially good at discussing the human longing for perfection and wholeness that the Grail quest symbolizes, and in speculating on why the Grail archetype holds such strong attraction. Part of the key to understanding its appeal lies in the fact that it is a product of the interplay between two essential human characteristics: belief and imagination (hence the book's subtitle). The proper hiding place of the Grail, in other words, is in the liminal space between imagination and belief. In focusing on archetypes such as the Grail, humans explore depths of themselves that otherwise might go unnoticed

The book is wonderfully illustrated--as well it should be, since the Grail has been such a common motif in art--with intertextual black and white reproductions and a center section of color photographs which are really quite breathtaking in their beauty. If you're a long-devoted Grail enthusiast, or if you're just beginning the pilgrimage and want a resource that can help you understand, for example, just who the heck the Fisher King is, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: The Holy Grail as a key to self-identity
Review: Richard Barber begins this magisterial study of the Holy Grail archetype with these words: "The Grail is a mysterious and haunting image, which crosses the borders of fiction and literature and which, for eight centuries, has been a recurrent ideal in Western literature"--and, as he makes clear in the book, in Western art, religion, spirituality, and psychology as well. Almost all of us have heard about the Grail (especially recently in all the hype over Dan Brown's thriller "The Da Vinci Code"), but almost none of us really know much about it. This is too bad, because the Grail legend is replete with meaning that gestures at the very core of who we are as humans.

The merits of Barber's book are many, but two in particular stand out. In the first place, he provides an exhaustive and entertaining discussion of the origins of the Grail legend, the various authors (such as Chretien de Troyes, Robert de Boron, and Wolfram von Eschenbach) who popularized the legend in the Middle Ages, and the symbolism behind the legends--how it ties in, for example, with the Eucharist. Secondly, he reflects in insightful and sometimes profound ways on just what the Grail legend means to us today, tracing the modern Grail expressions that abound in art, cinema (yes, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is discussed!), and literature. Barber is especially good at discussing the human longing for perfection and wholeness that the Grail quest symbolizes, and in speculating on why the Grail archetype holds such strong attraction. Part of the key to understanding its appeal lies in the fact that it is a product of the interplay between two essential human characteristics: belief and imagination (hence the book's subtitle). The proper hiding place of the Grail, in other words, is in the liminal space between imagination and belief. In focusing on archetypes such as the Grail, humans explore depths of themselves that otherwise might go unnoticed

The book is wonderfully illustrated--as well it should be, since the Grail has been such a common motif in art--with intertextual black and white reproductions and a center section of color photographs which are really quite breathtaking in their beauty. If you're a long-devoted Grail enthusiast, or if you're just beginning the pilgrimage and want a resource that can help you understand, for example, just who the heck the Fisher King is, this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Clear, intelligent, admirable
Review: Richard Barber's history of the texts and contexts of the grail legends couldn't come at a better time.

I write this from Spain, two days after March 11. It again occurs to me that understanding historical context has never been more important, if we are all to work together to solve conflicts and promote democracy. At the same time, it seems that certain politicians and best-selling authors could care less than ever about accuracy, fact, and real conversation and debate. They pick and choose details to support foregone conclusions. They treat the public as dupes, and unfortunately the public often seems to fit the bill far too easily. So, it comes as something of a relief to me to see a writer take on a slippery topic--which is surrounded by so much pseudo-historical mumbo jumbo (often written in the service of one or another extreme ideology)--and produce such a clear, unbiased narrative of the nuances and evolution of the Holy Grail.

For starters, Barber clearly gives credit where credit is due--to the French writer Chrétien de Troyes, for writing the first (and in my opinion still perhaps the best) grail story. Chrétien was the first person to write down Arthurian romance. He is the first to mention Camelot, and the first to write of the Lancelot-Guenivere-Arthur love triangle. In other words, though he wrote in verse, he laid the foundation of the novel. His last work, which he died writing in around 1186, was called "Perceval, or The Story of the Grail." It was a blockbuster in its day and still reads beautifully (and no, the grail is not originally a Christian chalice). It was also unfinished, and so, Barber claims, started the centuries of continuations and rewrites.

"The Da Vinci Code" came out after Barber's book went to press, so it is not included in the chapter on more recent versions of the grail story. Barber does, however, examine the source from which Dan Brown draws most of his information, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." Barber calls this pseudo-history classic an example of a new genre, "fictional history." (See also the article in "The New York Times" of Feb. 22, 2004, called "The Da Vinci Con" by Laura Miller. In it she details the evidence that The Priory of Sion is a notorious hoax.)

So, I have not read Barber's "The Holy Grail" cover to cover yet. It is something of a reference work for me, to be dipped into. But I have read enough to feel a great relief that here, at last, is a source one can trust and enjoy, as Barber traces this most fascinating of literary figures, the grail, through the twists and turns of centuries of history. A masterful, exemplary work--a rigorous, multi-faceted, objective investigation of a figure of great beauty.

**********************************************

As a note, I can also recommend to people interested in strong, rigorous histories, Karen Armstrong's "The History of God" and María Rosa Menocal's "The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain."

Rating:
Summary: A journey through the ages of Grail literature
Review: The Holy Grail, the Cup of Christ, it's been called many names. The Grail has been the stuff of legends for centuries. Almost always associated in some way with King Arthur, the Grail has made its way through time to the modern day through stories, epic poems, and other forms of media. Where did it come from? Was there some original legend that this was all based on? Or was it all a figment of some writer's imagination that caught fire and lasted throughout the ages? Richard Barber's new book, The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief, sets out to answer some of these questions. Unlike some books, Barber does not try to prove the Grail is real, or where it can be found. Instead, Barber's intent is to examine the legend of the Grail, to trace its history through all of the Arthurian romances of the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries, all the way up to the modern day. When a book like this mentions both Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you know it's complete!

Barber begins at the beginning, probably the best place to start. The first Arthurian tale about the Grail is thought to have been written by Chretien de Troyes, a French writer probably from the town of the same name. Chretien was a writer of medieval romances, and he called this particular selection "The Story of the Grail." There is no indication that he was adapting any other story, either verbal or long-lost written, so it is widely believed that he invented the thing. Unfortunately, he did not live to finish the story, and a number of men tried to continue it. Barber examines the original in great detail, reprinting a great many passages from it. He quotes it for four pages and then says:

"I have quoted this at length, because it is the original of all subsequent descriptions of the Grail and its surroundings, and we shall see how the least detail becomes critical to our investigation." Pg 19

He does this with many of the tracts that he analyzes, from the continuations of Chretien's poem after he died, to Robert de Boron, and numerous others. Then he expertly analyzes the text to demonstrate just what part of the legend has changed or has been reused by each subsequent author. He goes into great detail about all of the variations of the Grail story that appeared in the late 12th century to around 1240. It's fascinating watching the history of the Grail, one of the most intriguing objects in literature, virtually change before your eyes as you get a different author's imagination applied to it. These first few chapters seem kind of long at first, with great blocks of text, much of it in smaller font because it's a quote. However, I quickly lost myself in these stories and Barber's dissection of them. It's very important to establish this base for when he moves on to the later centuries.

In these early tales, the Grail was variously representative of either the Eucharist or other specific rituals from the Christian mythos. Each story always contained some sort of procession of young virgins carrying the Grail through the castle of the Keeper of the Grail as Percival or Galahad looked on. There was always some kind of religious meaning to the whole story. As the Church clamped down on heretical ideas in literature and other writing, the Grail stories died off, but were quickly unearthed when things lightened up a little bit in the 16th century and beyond, during the Enlightenment. Since that time, other variations of the Grail story have been told, usually leaving out some part of it or adapting it to current political times. Barber points out that, as time has gone on, the story of the Grail has become more secularized, making commentary on either society or on current politics. He ends the book with a discussion of the Grail in modern times, where it has lost virtually all of its religious significance, instead becoming defined as the unreachable goal, such as a Unified Theory being "the holy grail of science."

Throughout the book, Barber has undoubtedly left out some stories, but it's hard to imagine how little they must have to do with the Grail to deserve being left out. His research is very thorough and his commentary on each piece is fascinating to read. He's not afraid to call something nonsense when it clearly is, especially the attempts to tie the Grail into occult practices in the late 1800s. He viciously tears apart Holy Blood, Holy Grail, calling it not real history, but a "conspiracy theory of history." He even examines the Grail as portrayed in movies, with an especially adept analysis of The Fisher King with Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges. As more evidence of its completeness, there are over 300 endnotes (a lot of them for quotes from the various stories) and the bibliography contains close to 600 books and stories. If you have any interest in the Grail or medieval history, this book holds your attention from beginning to end.

The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief is about exactly that: the contrast between the imagining of the Grail, all those years ago, to the belief in the ideal of the Grail. Barber never goes down the path of "is the Grail real?" Instead, he tells us about how the idea of the Grail has affected western literature and, at times, history throughout the ages. From religious icon to chivalric symbol to secular goal, the Grail has stayed with us since its beginning, buried at times, but never truly forgotten. It's been the spark of some very imaginative stories and some strange conspiracy theories. This book takes you all along that winding path, on a journey of discovery that won't let you go.

David Roy

Rating:
Summary: Centuries of Imaginative Power
Review: We all know what it is to seek the Holy Grail. Richard Barber has done a survey of newspapers and other timely publications and found that people are seeking Holy Grails all the time, but may have no idea about the historic origin of the name for that quest. A unified theory is the Holy Grail of physics, Marmite's range of vitamins make it the Holy Grail of foodstuffs, and fashion designers somewhere are seeking the Holy Grail of "nude" tights. These seekers may not know the Grail by name, but the idea of a quest for something perfect, something elusive, something that really is never going to be found is a universal one. In _The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief_ (Harvard University Press), Barber, a British authority on medieval history, has made an exhaustive study of the origins of the Grail legend and how, over 800 years, the legend has been changed, used, misused, parodied, and revered. This is a big, academic reference book, but the appeal of the subject and Barber's erudition and sense of fun make it enticing reading.

There may have been a Grail tradition in stories and in pictures, but no one wrote them down until Chrétien de Troyes, who wrote, among other things, an unfinished romance about Perceval around 1180. Chrétien never finished his story, and didn't say much about the Grail in it, but the idea of this holy relic was so strong that in the succeeding fifty years, several poets from various countries not only completed the tale but added their own material and themes. Barber, going through the conflicting Grail stories, argues that there is little evidence that there is any "true source" for the Grail except Chrétien's stories and their descendents. Their context is the orthodox Christianity of the period, but the Church itself officially and studiously ignored the stories. The stories, however, emphasized the importance of the Eucharist, the spiritual aspirations of knightly questing, and the value of veneration of relics. Barber's book takes Grail lore up to the current times (yes, including Monty Python), including the vessels that people have sufficient faith (or gall) to insist are the real McCoy. Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee had some fun with the Grail: "The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several-years' cruise. Every year expeditions went out holy Grailing and next year relief expeditions went to hunt for them. There was worlds of reputation in it, but no money."

Twain's remarks are happier than the other modern manifestations of the legend. The crowd that sees international, centuries-long conspiracies at the heart of all history all value the Grail. Alchemists, Nazis, New Agers, Rosicrucians, and the like have all made some sort of claim to it, and if having religious faith in the item is not sufficient, they have backed up their connections to it using astrology, Tarot cards, ley-lines, and other such evidence. As Barber says, "We are not far... from the world of the flying saucer enthusiasts and alien visitors." In fact, one author has identified the Grail as a flying saucer. The lore of the Holy Grail fits all because there is so little to work on, and imaginations can make of it what they will. Barber knows that the force that has shaped the Grail is not history, not fact, but imagination "... the creative thought that subtly built on an unfinished story." Aspiration to acquisition of the unattainable has produced art and silliness, all well documented in an authoritative book.

Rating:
Summary: Centuries of Imaginative Power
Review: We all know what it is to seek the Holy Grail. Richard Barber has done a survey of newspapers and other timely publications and found that people are seeking Holy Grails all the time, but may have no idea about the historic origin of the name for that quest. A unified theory is the Holy Grail of physics, Marmite's range of vitamins make it the Holy Grail of foodstuffs, and fashion designers somewhere are seeking the Holy Grail of "nude" tights. These seekers may not know the Grail by name, but the idea of a quest for something perfect, something elusive, something that really is never going to be found is a universal one. In _The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief_ (Harvard University Press), Barber, a British authority on medieval history, has made an exhaustive study of the origins of the Grail legend and how, over 800 years, the legend has been changed, used, misused, parodied, and revered. This is a big, academic reference book, but the appeal of the subject and Barber's erudition and sense of fun make it enticing reading.

There may have been a Grail tradition in stories and in pictures, but no one wrote them down until Chrétien de Troyes, who wrote, among other things, an unfinished romance about Perceval around 1180. Chrétien never finished his story, and didn't say much about the Grail in it, but the idea of this holy relic was so strong that in the succeeding fifty years, several poets from various countries not only completed the tale but added their own material and themes. Barber, going through the conflicting Grail stories, argues that there is little evidence that there is any "true source" for the Grail except Chrétien's stories and their descendents. Their context is the orthodox Christianity of the period, but the Church itself officially and studiously ignored the stories. The stories, however, emphasized the importance of the Eucharist, the spiritual aspirations of knightly questing, and the value of veneration of relics. Barber's book takes Grail lore up to the current times (yes, including Monty Python), including the vessels that people have sufficient faith (or gall) to insist are the real McCoy. Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee had some fun with the Grail: "The boys all took a flier at the Holy Grail now and then. It was a several-years' cruise. Every year expeditions went out holy Grailing and next year relief expeditions went to hunt for them. There was worlds of reputation in it, but no money."

Twain's remarks are happier than the other modern manifestations of the legend. The crowd that sees international, centuries-long conspiracies at the heart of all history all value the Grail. Alchemists, Nazis, New Agers, Rosicrucians, and the like have all made some sort of claim to it, and if having religious faith in the item is not sufficient, they have backed up their connections to it using astrology, Tarot cards, ley-lines, and other such evidence. As Barber says, "We are not far... from the world of the flying saucer enthusiasts and alien visitors." In fact, one author has identified the Grail as a flying saucer. The lore of the Holy Grail fits all because there is so little to work on, and imaginations can make of it what they will. Barber knows that the force that has shaped the Grail is not history, not fact, but imagination "... the creative thought that subtly built on an unfinished story." Aspiration to acquisition of the unattainable has produced art and silliness, all well documented in an authoritative book.