Perceval or the Romance of the Grail - Chrétien de Troyes - book

Perceval is first and foremost a coming-of-age novel. The hero is a young nobleman raised by his mother away from society and ignorant of chivalry. For he is the last son, he whose brothers, knights, died in combat, followed by their father, who died of grief. Perceval is therefore naive: he does not know the customs, is surprised by everything, speaks at random, and acts with a spontaneity that borders on insolence. Attracted by the beauty of the weapons of the knights he meets, he decides, against his mother's advice, to become a knight. From then on, he is ordered to behave himself and to ask no more questions. And when the Grail passes before his eyes, he does not dare question the young girls who carry it... This Romance of the Grail, written in the 12th century and interrupted by the author's death, is thus an anti-novel of chivalry. The traditional quest for love is not the driving force: it is rather a quest for self. The hero is the chosen one in spite of himself: the one who could conquer the Grail but ignores it. Between speech and silence, mystical experience and guilt, the story of this young wild knight has given rise to numerous interpretations, notably psychoanalytic. It is also a great, marvelous tale, with sober and powerful lyricism, where astonishment and laughter are never far away, faced with a hero ill-adapted to the world that is his, and soon ours.