Gawain and the Grail

[bibliogramma]

Kinsmen of the Grail, Dorothy James Roberts

This book was published in 1963, before the explosion of interest in the literature of fantasy in general that followed the success of The Lord of the Rings - and just at the same time as the release of Disney’s animated The Sword and The Stone (which I’ve always suspected had something to do with the flowering of Arthurian-based fantasy and historical fiction that began some 10 to 15 years later, once the children who watched it grew up to become writers).

Unlike many Arthurian retellings that take their shape and focus from Mallory (ca. 1470), Roberts’ inspiration is the Gawain story from the Perlesvaus, also known as Le Haut Livre du Graal, (ca. 1120). The Perlesvaus collected all the then-extant Grail legends, and its focus was Perceval and his quest for the Grail. The Gawain story is a counterpoint to that of Perceval – the knight who begins the search but, lacking commitment to the Grail, cannot find it.

Roberts' book is a moving portrait of a middle-aged warrior caught between his sense of duty and obligation, his longing for a simple family life, and his desire for spiritual growth. Nearing the end of his prime, he encounters the almost supernaturally gifted Perceval – destined to be the knight without peer, the Grail Knight. Lonely after long years spent a widower, he falls in love with Perceval’s mother, the deeply pacifist Iglais. A practical man of the world of responsibilities to king and the people of the king, he is confronted with the manifestation of what is most profound and sublime in the spiritual life.

Drawn on the one hand into the Grail quest through his interactions with and responsibilities to Perceval and Iglais (who are members of the mysterious Grail family), and commanded on the other hand into an investigation of what turns out to be plots of treason against his sworn lord Arthur, Gawain must eventually make his choice between duty and personal desires, as we all do in our own way.

A different modern-day approach to the Arthurian material, and a worthwhile read.