Although choppy at times, and the characters seem to be superhuman in terms of combat and piety, this remarkable book is useful on a number of levels.

What many reviewers fail to note is that this book was intended primarily to be a manual on spiritual growth, not to tell stories of great knights. Given the original audience, this makes sense. The average peasant in the 12th century would not be able to follow scholastic reasoning, but they would be able to follow a story of heroism and spiritual More...

The book was recommended by the instructor for a course on the origins of the myths about King Arthur. It was meant to be, for us, an introduction to the characters surrounding Arthur and succeeds on that level. But when the translator (the author is unknown) tells you in the introduction that this story is a spiritual fable, she is not understating the problem that many of us are going to have reading it.

And we're talking about Christianity in its early stages, just following the dark ages and More...

THE QUEST FOR THE HILY GRAIL BY Pauline matarasso


The quests for the holy grail despite its Arthurian setting it is not a romance but, a spiritual fable most medieval literature can be read on more that one level.
But the quest of the Holy Grail has a place in the cannon of spiritual literature
Not among the theological treatise but, works of popular appeal.
As this is a combinations of translations welsh French Cistercians
And thia may have not been a comedy, unless in the dantetan sense

Lancelot More...

From the Introduction by translator P.M. Matarasso: "The QUESTE DEL SAINT GRAAL despite its Arthurian setting is not a romance, it is a spiritual fable. This may seem surprising in view of the fact it forms part of a vast compilation know as the PROSE LANCELOT, which might justifiably be called the romance to end romances. It is less surprising however when one considers that it is the product of a period when things were rarely quite what they seemed, when the outward appearance was merely a ga More...

This is a great little spiritual book that was recommended to me by a friend. I did not know what to expect and thought that all I needed to know about Lancelot was that he was the knight that steals his best friend and King's wife; but the story was written as a spiritual text, to teach people about enlightenment. It was then used as inspiration for other texts on forbidden love.

But this book rocks. Galahad is amazing in terms of showing the behavior and standards required to be worthy of recei More...

If you are looking for spiritual symbolism, spiritual teachings and metaphoric analogies for enlightenment and spiritual quests etc.. you will find it in the Quest of the Holy Grail.

This book is by far the best of the Arthurian Legends, seeming the most authentic and undistorted.

It is right on my top 3 spiritual books along with The Bhagavad Gītā and The Flight of the Feathered Serpant which have each touched me and inspired me very unexpectantly.

I truly had no expectations when I picked up th More...

The "Queste del Saint Graal" is nothing short of a masterpiece. It could stand as one of the greatest pieces of medieval literature strictly on its merits as a story of fantastic adventures and legendary battles. However, to limit an understanding of this French anti-romance to its surface features would be to under-appreciate the timeless qualities of this spiritual fable. Ultimately, this book is an allegory for man's quest to see God, born of an innate desire to comprehend the divine and to k More...

The translation is workable, and with copious footnotes for those who have't read much of the Bible. Yes, it's allegorical.

This is, in a way, thirteenth century revisionism, reworking the earlier naturalistic chivalric tradition and the Celtic mythos (can I say mythos without cracking up?... mythos, mythos, mythos, OK, it is a little pedantic, but I will let it stand).

It does not attempt to deconstruct gallantry as such, and still gives a shout out to incredible, and sometimes absurd feats of a More...

This is the story of the Quest for the Holy Grail by the knights of King Arthur's court. The ideal of knighthood here is a spiritual one so the flawed Lancelot is replaced as foremost knight by his unsullied son, Galahad.

Combat and the perils described here are also spiritual, spuring your horse into battle to aid the weaker side runs the risk of aiding the devils fighting against the angels. The landscape is mystical. Almost as soon as the knights ride out from Camelot they are in the unfamila More...

One of the worst books I've ever read, this book is so bad it's good.
The author's tone is priggish and moralistic, but all the descriptions of naked temptresses are lovingly detailed even while the author decries them. How to tell if you are Doing the Right Thing or not? Look for A Sign. Or fall asleep then and there; you'll dream about cows and really sexy women without clothes on which the author is audibly slathering over and It Will Be Very Significant. How do you interpret said signs/dreams More...

Though its title led me to expect chivalric romance, this is actually an introductory meditation manual for lay people. So ... basically I was exactly the reader the book wanted. It has all the usual faults of a promise-one-thing-deliver-another religious novel. If you read it primarily as an entertainment, it's interrupted constantly by preaching and hamfisted allegories. If you read it as devotional literature in the allegorical mode, it features superior storytelling and invention, but has so More...

This book is much less a tale of swords and daring-do than it is a fable of the search for righteousness and purity. Many knights take up the quest, but many fall away for one reason or another. It's a wonderful tale that measures its heroes more by their spirituality than by their skill and strength.

This has easily become my favorite book. For those who have or intend to embark on their own personal quest for the grail, this book serves as an inspiration with all of its symbology and displays of inner strength and faith. The relatable qualities of each knight and character is endearing. It is through their strength and weakness, success and failure that one sees how difficult the journey to the grail (enlightenment) is. But, having Galahad reign most triumphant in all aspects of the quest g More...

This tale is described as an "anti-Romance", with pious and virginal knights whose ideals are a critique of the "cult of the lady" and other aspects of courtly chivalry. As expected, the knights travel around rescuing maidens and attacking castles, but visions also abound and the landscape is dotted with mysterious chapels and innumerable hermits who pop up at convenient moments to give interpretations and religious discourses. Lancelot encounters several of these in a row while repenting his ad More...

La quête du Saint-Graal est un roman de chevalerie particulièrement mystique, ou nos héros de la table ronde sont soumis à rude épreuve, car c'est contre propres faiblesses qu'ils devront vaincre pour être digne de l'honneur de servir le Christ, comme le découvre amèrement Lancelot. On découvre donc la différence subtile entre virginité et pucelage, maints rêves sont décryptés par des ermites, moult prodiges et miracles viennent étonner les chevaliers qui entreprennent cette quête pour leur plus More...

The main character is pretty boring, and all the talk of God is a bit much, but it's interesting for historical/cultural reasons and I really enjoyed Lancelot's story arch, because he's a SINNER (ooh!)

And now I see why Malory's quest for the Holy Grail always felt a disconnect from the rest of his work. This is certainly the most satisfying Grail quest I have read excepting perhaps Parzival which requires a complete reread at this point. It certainly suffers from the Medieval necessity to make everything a metaphor and to fully explain each and every vision of which there are many. Still, it is fresh water amidst the ocean of courtly love in Arthurian Lit.

Others may mock, but I know I've experienced life to the fullest limits when it handed me this unbearable chalice. Like a gift. Like a bouquet of barbed wire. I thought I knew everything but I know nothing. I feel privileged in a way, though not in the way I'd intended.

Slightly more religious than I anticipated, but that made it all the more inadvertantly amusing. You can see where Terry Jones got most of the source material to take the piss out of in Monty Python and Holy Grail.

It's brilliant, particularly whenever God gets involved when the otherwise Byzantine dreams and visions easily get explained as works of God. You get used to it, but it's still funny...

After having read much of the Grail legend, I still find this among the funniest of versions--given its authorship, which some scholars attribute to a member or members of a monastic order, the monks are portrayed as witty and brilliant, while most of the secular figures we know and love are characterized as incompetent nitwits. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Couples with the Death of King Arthur. It is an easier read than the Wolfram von Eschenbach version but also totally different. This one having Galahad as the true Grail hero. It is basically a string of allegorical vignettes which all get explained for you within the story as the adventure progresses.

There's something exciting about reading something written in 1225. Obviously it's not going to read like a modern book -- we've had 800 years to refine pacing, character development, plot points, etc. But I enjoyed the glimpse into the mind of a pre-renaissance writer.

sermonizing classic wtih disconnected plot, good historical reference of course, very much related to monty python's quest for the holy grail. not fun to read otherwise of course, besides historical enlightenment.

This was...interesting. It is not a typical Arthurian romance. It is heavy on Roman Catholic theology, with a dash of Celtic mythology. Once you realize it is not an "adventure story" in that mold, it's worth the read.

I'm a little timid of giving a star rating to a piece of medieval spiritual literature. It sort of defies what I think about its readability by just ...being a thing.

That said, this was a tedious and difficult read.

I know it's a seminal work, but it bored me to tears. I just can't get enthusiastic about the Arthurian legend.

Bought (at Tintagel) and first read this a VERY long time ago; so need to read it again.

This is one of the most exciting and entertaining books I have ever read.

a great sense of the world back then