Perceval: The Story of the Grail

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Research book
Review: I thought this book would be hard to read and boring since it was written so long ago, but I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it a fascinating story with undertones of all sorts of things. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the real story of the Grail Legend. Read this book instead of relying on other author's interpretations and theories.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most influential books of all time
Review: This unfinnished romance has inspired centuries of literature. Chretien was probably the most popular writer in the 12th century. Despite the age of the book the story is full of issues that concern us today. It is a comming of age story in which a boy becomes a man and learns of his ancestry and potential. It is also a story of spiritual discovery, and the encounter with mystery. The fact that the poem was left unfinnished makes it even more compelling. Chretien claimed that this book was rewritten from a source book given to him by Phillip of Flanders, his patron. Speculation about the nature of this source has run on for centuries. A recent analysis in _King_Arthur_ by Norma Goodrich, makes a good case that the source was real and that these Arthurian stories took place in southern Scotland. So maybe Percival is more than just one of the greatest works of fiction. I love to read direct translations of Celtic mythology, and this is amoung the best available. Easier to read than you might think, but still a challenge. One of my favorite books.

Rating:
Summary: This Book Is Amazing
Review: What a Classic tale of the Fool coming to age! The story (read: poem) moves along at a quick pace as we follow Perceval through his travails. The story is light and humourous but also is so much deeper at second look. It is too bad Chretin dy Troyes could not have lived to finish this piece.