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When Tessa asked the question – how did these stories become kids stories, I kind of scrambled for an answer, assuming it must have been Andrew Lang, the Scottish folklorist and prolific writer/translator. Lang may have adapted some Arthurian material, but Sidney Lanier (again, one of those 19th Century “men of letters”) wrote two books [...]
One thing that I have noticed in Erec and Enide is that names are given out sparingly. Almost all of the characters that are introduced into the story are nameless for at least a portion of the narrative, only receiving a name if they are essential to the story. Enide is referred to [...]
While I was reading the book, one quote struck me more than any other. After Erec’s father passes away, Chretien remarks, “Grieving is uncourtly on the part of a king and it does not befit a king to show grief.” (117)Â His comment really hit me because it reminded me of Queen Elizabeth’s reaction (or lack [...]
Am I the only one who was bored to tears by “Erec and Enide”? Sure, it was cool for the first 20 pages, in which Erec wins for Enide the Medieval Miss Universe pageant by jamming his sword into some fool’s skull (after which he appeared to be relatively [...]
Ygerna’s character utterly baffled me. When Uther first walks in disguised as Gorlois, Geoffrey said that she “naturally believed all he said and refused him nothing,” implying that she is at least a dutiful wife-whether or not she actually loved Gorlois is up for debate. But then when Uther claims her in his own form, [...]
As class closed we discussed Monmouth’s Histories as a sort of unifying Anglo-Norman revenge fantasy. I think we can push that a little farther to include other Celtic peoples, namely the Scots and the Irish. Pulling a few of the threads we discussed in class a bit further would suggest a reading calling for unity [...]
I know this was probably supposed to be a heroic epic to make the British people proud of themselves, but it seems to me that once the Romans come, GM makes the British look progressively worse. When Julius Caesar first arrives, the British boot him off the island (twice) and leave him feeling humiliated. Even [...]