Reviews for Erec and Enide

The average rating for Erec and Enide based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-12-22 00:00:00 Gilda Alarcon De Troyes is little known unless one is a French medieval student. He write these four lyrical poems in the late twelfth century for the Countess Marie, daughter of Louis VII and that fabulous hoyden, Eleanor of Aquitaine. They are rich in " chivalric customs and ideals and have little in common with their Celtic prototypes." Story One follows the peregrinations of Erec, a quite chivalrous knight, and his newly wedded wife, Enide. He is so ensnared of her beauty and virtue that he suspends his life of dueling, which starts tongues wagging around Court that he has most his courage. What follows is his idea of proving those gossipers wrong. Story Two is the epitome of courtly love between Alexander, a Greek knight visiting King Arthur's Court, and one of Guenivere's ladies. It then progresses to the love story of their son, Cliges, and his paramour, a story with similarities to Tristan and Isold. Story Three was a bit confusing at first. It tells the tale of Yvaine, or the Knight with a lion. It begins with a visit to a little known land and the mystical tree that holds a basin that causes tempests to blow. He naturally falls for a damsel of a great kingdom as all the other heroes did. The rest of the story is an intricately woven adventure upon adventure than then folds back upon itself. Lastly we have Story Four, a romance about that most faithful of knights, Lancelot. This one is the only one of the four that was not finished by De Troyes. In reading these lovely bits of French narratives I learned that Sir Kay is a royal knave. He has a terrible attitude, he mouths off, he can't be trusted. And every maiden is more fair than the last, and the last was so beautiful she could move heaven with her face. These stories have a tense issue. I dont know if it's a translation problem, but phrases jump between past and present tense even within the same paragraph. So that's a bit jarring.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-05-13 00:00:00 Watesutt Watesutt [The first quarter of the story, he meets her, fights for her attentions, marries her. The stories go on into their married life, already, something unusual. They spend a lot of time together, however, his friends start gossiping about his recent lack of adventures. Enide shares this with him and he is, livid unhappy. Consequently, he takes her on such an adventure, asking her to never speak with him unless spoken to first. She breaks this rule several times, the one of which ends up saving his life. He nearly ends up dying from his wounds, she nearly ends up married by force, but he wakes up in time, chops up husband No. 2 and they reconcile. A final episode has him dueling a knight bound by his sweetheart's promise never to leave a garden unless bested in combat. Erec beats him, they all realize they know each other, then Erec and Enide are crowned. (hide spoiler)]