Survey of French Literature, Volume 1: The Middle Ages and the Sixteenth Century Book

This volume (8) and the following volume (9 The Post-Vulgate Cycle: The Quest for the Holy Grail & The Death of Arthur), both translated by Martha Asher, are part of the Norris Lacy edition in 10 volumes of the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Lancelot-Grail Cycles (1 Holy Grail, 2 Merlin, 3-5 Lancelot, 6 Quest of the Holy Grail, 7 Death of Arthur, 8-9 Post-Vulgate, 10 chapter summaries and index).

These two volumes give a complete English-language translation of the reconstructed, incomplete (so-called) "Post-Vulgate" cycle (the cycle does not survive complete). The Post-Vulgate Cycle (written probably between 1230 and 1240) is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature. It is essentially a extensive reworking and condensation of the earlier, massive Vulgate Cycle (also known as the Lancelot-Grail Cycle), with much left out (it omits almost all of the Vulgate's Lancelot Proper section, although it alludes to plot elements from it) and much added (including characters and scenes from the Prose Tristan). It was the major source for Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

Beginning immediately after Arthur's coronation (NB: for the story of Arthur's conception and the episode of the sword in the stone, readers should read the first 100 pages of vol 2 "The Story of Merlin") and finishing with several adventures by Perceval, this volume gives the so-called "Merlin Continuation" portions of the cycle. (Volume 9 gives the "Quest of the Holy Grail" and "Death of Arthur" portions of the Post-Vulgate). This volume is based on a variety of sources: the first 221 pages are from the Huth Manuscript; the next 100 pages are from a continuation ("the Adventures of Gawain, Yvain, and Morholt"), the last 100 pages are from a further continuation ("La Folie Lancelot").

The Post-Vulgate is significantly different in scope and tone from the Vulgate cycle:

Where the Vulgate's "Merlin Continuation" and parts of the Lancelot are (drearily) obsessed with Arthur's wars/battles against his rebellious barons, Saxons, & Rome, the P-V focusses squarely on episodes of mysterious adventurous (the "questing beast", maidens with quests, castles with obscure traditions, magic...).

The shining, idealized portrayal of many knights and chivalric characters (such as Arthur and Gawain) in the Vulgate gives way in the Post-Vulgate to grim and ambivalent depictions (as, say, when Arthur contemplates a Herod-like slaughter of children in order to preemptively murder his son Mordred, or when Gawain murders King Pellinor and (fellow Knight of the Round Table) Lamorat to avenge his father's death). An idealized representation of knights is replaced with jealousies and vendettas, maidens' pleas that go unheeded, shameful accidents, supposedly good knights who kidnap maidens, the occasional slaughter of unarmed villagers, quests that go unfulfilled, etc. The trope of castles with curious customs is pushed to a dark extreme (in one instance, a castle forces all passing maidens to be bled as a cure for their mistress) and haunting wonders (in one castle inhabitants magically drop dead every time a knight enters the gates).

Emblematic of this dark cynicism is the new character of Balin the poor knight who seems destined to constantly do the worst acts (including inflicting the "dolorous stroke" on the Fisher King) despite being the best of knights. He seems constantly forced into impossible dilemmas between competing obligations, and to be plagued by unlucky outcomes (that also kill those around him).

In a similar way, again and again we meet characters who, despite being friends/brothers/etc., are destined to kill each other, or we find scenes where a noble character summarily executes the wrong person or rushes to their own defeat despite Merlin's advice. This is a grim Camelot of dark consequences, and characters are often pensive and brooding, or lamenting their fate.

Arthur's sister Morgan is depicted in a far more sinister light in the P-V (she is worthy of Kings Landing), plotting the assassination of both her brother and husband; the same is true of Ninianne (the Lady of the Lake) who seethes with hatred for her adoring Merlin and seals him alive in a tomb.

The role of Merlin as mischievous advisor to Arthur (as seen in the Vulgate) here becomes Merlin the prophet of misfortune.

(The representation of Perceval in the P-V is much simplified from, and lacks most of the humorous elements of, the Chrétien de Troyes "Conte du Graal" version.)

Despite the profusion of magic and adventures, there are moments in the P-V that are jaw-dropping in their almost "modern" feel. I felt this particularly in the section where Gaheriet beheads his mother (a widow) who is having a sexual relationship with a much younger knight, and in the subsequent fratricidal rage of his brothers; these scenes play out in an almost cinematic way and depict a profound psychological darkness. This is Game of Thrones territory.

The narrative of the P-V is curiously disjointed, in part because of the fragmentary nature of the surviving texts: the narrative frequently promises to tell certain events later on (that never get mentioned again), jumps over key events (such as the actual murder of Pellinor by Gawain), or references other books (some of which may be invented).

Compared to the editor of the Merlin volume in the series, Martha Asher's P-V does a better job at supplying helpful footnotes, although there are moments where they are lacking. As with the other volumes, there is no index of character names (this can be found in volume 10).