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Medieval Romances
Edited, with an Introduction, by Roger Sherman Loomis and Laura Hibbard Loomis
The origins of romance/Roger Sherman Loomis & Laura Hibbard Loomis
Perceval, or the story of the Grail/Chŕetien de Troyes
Tristan & Isolt/Gottfried von Strassburg
The youth of Alexander the Great
Aucassin & Nicolete
Havelok the Dane
Sir Orfeo
Sir Gawain & the Green Knight
The book of Balin/Sir Thomas Malory
List of Suggested Readings
The origins of romance/Roger Sherman Loomis & Laura Hibbard Loomis
Perceval, or the story of the Grail/Chŕetien de Troyes
Tristan & Isolt/Gottfried von Strassburg
The youth of Alexander the Great
Aucassin & Nicolete
Havelok the Dane
Sir Orfeo
Sir Gawain & the Green Knight
The book of Balin/Sir Thomas Malory
List of Suggested Readings
426 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
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128 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 30, 2010
Medieval Romances, edited by Roger Sherman Loomis and Laurra Hibbard Loomis, is a good selection of writings from French and English sources of the Middle ages. There are eight separate stories in the collection. Of these, three were especially interesting to me. Perceval, translated by R. S. Loomis, is rollicking comedy and reads often like a medieval version of Adam Sandler’s movie The Waterboy. Perceval lives with his overprotective mother who keeps her son ignorant of knighthood lest he leave home like his father before him. The Youth of Alexander the Great, translated by R. S. Loomis, is a brief, but humorous medieval pastiche of apocryphal accounts of the great conqueror’s early life. Aucassin and Nicolete, translated by Andrew Lang, is a beautiful love story in both prose and poetry, which I had never before read.
Havelok the Dane and The Book of Balin I had read before. Both are wonderful stories, and are well presented here. The story of Balin stands well on its own, but really ought to be read in the full context of Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur.
As to the remaining three stories, all are good stories and ought to be in a collection such as this. However, for those interested, all three can be found in better form elsewhere. For the story of Tristan and Isolt, here translated in prose form by Jessie L. Weston, readers may wish to read the excellent verse rendition by Joseph Bédier, translated by Hilaire Belloc. Sir Orfeo, here translated in prose by L. H. Loomis, is available in a verse translation by J. R. R. Tolkien. Finally, though there are many translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, here translated in prose by M. R. Ridley, I always prefer a verse translation and recommend either the J. R. R. Tolkien translation or the Penguin Classics translation by Brian Stone.
Overall this book is a great overview and introduction to medieval romances, and each of the stories comes with a nice, brief introduction. I recommend this book for any interested in wading into medieval literature or adding to their knowledge.
Havelok the Dane and The Book of Balin I had read before. Both are wonderful stories, and are well presented here. The story of Balin stands well on its own, but really ought to be read in the full context of Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur.
As to the remaining three stories, all are good stories and ought to be in a collection such as this. However, for those interested, all three can be found in better form elsewhere. For the story of Tristan and Isolt, here translated in prose form by Jessie L. Weston, readers may wish to read the excellent verse rendition by Joseph Bédier, translated by Hilaire Belloc. Sir Orfeo, here translated in prose by L. H. Loomis, is available in a verse translation by J. R. R. Tolkien. Finally, though there are many translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, here translated in prose by M. R. Ridley, I always prefer a verse translation and recommend either the J. R. R. Tolkien translation or the Penguin Classics translation by Brian Stone.
Overall this book is a great overview and introduction to medieval romances, and each of the stories comes with a nice, brief introduction. I recommend this book for any interested in wading into medieval literature or adding to their knowledge.
June 30, 2022
Medieval adventure tales and sagas:
Perceval, or the story of the Grail/Chrétien de Troyes: I was surprised at the broad comedy of goofy Perceval a Welsh rustic with spurs on his brogans and as powerful in a fight as we was dense about the ways of the world. Every introduction is informative and interesting here and this one tells how the original grail was a Welsh fish bowl, like for eating lamprey. Before the transmogrification into Christ relic it shows up here as another prop that highlights the lack of knowledge of the sheltered hero.
Tristan & Isolt/Gottfried von Straßburg: This is my second time reading this and I just don't like it. It is overly long and since the lovers are affected by a magical potion, they are not compelling or relatable.
The youth of Alexander the Great: It is interesting to me how so many of these tales are quasi-historical personages in alternative histories with magical powers, rather like a comic book. From this introduction:
Rather unrelated, it reminds me of how the date of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth is given in gospel accounts as occurring during impossible dates followed by miraculous birth and other supernatural events. I feel for a millennia or more, history was written with guidelines entirely unlike you would expect for modern nonfiction.
There is also "Aucassin & Nicolete", another superhero king in "Havelok the Dane". The compelling, tragic story of Orpheus gets treatment in "Sir Orfeo". "Sir Gawain & the Green Knight" is a rather odd story of its brutal if magical decapitation with comedy of failed seductions and manly knights kissing over a verbal pact. It feels like much of this is for laughs, to me, or telling stories over fires with draughts of beer.
The collection concludes with "The book of Balin" (Sir Thomas Malory). This is interesting as it bookends the collection with Arthurian tales from the Matter of Britain in a tragic tale of mystical plots with Merlin afoot and mistaken identity.
Perceval, or the story of the Grail/Chrétien de Troyes: I was surprised at the broad comedy of goofy Perceval a Welsh rustic with spurs on his brogans and as powerful in a fight as we was dense about the ways of the world. Every introduction is informative and interesting here and this one tells how the original grail was a Welsh fish bowl, like for eating lamprey. Before the transmogrification into Christ relic it shows up here as another prop that highlights the lack of knowledge of the sheltered hero.
Tristan & Isolt/Gottfried von Straßburg: This is my second time reading this and I just don't like it. It is overly long and since the lovers are affected by a magical potion, they are not compelling or relatable.
The youth of Alexander the Great: It is interesting to me how so many of these tales are quasi-historical personages in alternative histories with magical powers, rather like a comic book. From this introduction:
Needless to say, history has been overlaid by a mass of prodigies and marvels, and it gives one quite a start to read that Homer and Ptolemy were among Alexander's tutors, teaching him Latin, falconry and fencing! We can be sure that the poet did not take his own information very seriously, and, like Shakespeare or Walter Scott, would have acknowledged his anachronisms with a shrug. We need no great perspicacity to realize that the story of the gryphon flight, so popular as a subject for medieval art, has been treated, not in a solemn tone to illustrate the sin of pride, but with a keen eye for comic effect, all the more amusing because of the humiliating role assigned to the sages of antiquity. And it is primarily as humor, unconscious as well as conscious, that the account of Alexander's nativity and youthful exploits is included in this book.
Rather unrelated, it reminds me of how the date of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth is given in gospel accounts as occurring during impossible dates followed by miraculous birth and other supernatural events. I feel for a millennia or more, history was written with guidelines entirely unlike you would expect for modern nonfiction.
There is also "Aucassin & Nicolete", another superhero king in "Havelok the Dane". The compelling, tragic story of Orpheus gets treatment in "Sir Orfeo". "Sir Gawain & the Green Knight" is a rather odd story of its brutal if magical decapitation with comedy of failed seductions and manly knights kissing over a verbal pact. It feels like much of this is for laughs, to me, or telling stories over fires with draughts of beer.
The collection concludes with "The book of Balin" (Sir Thomas Malory). This is interesting as it bookends the collection with Arthurian tales from the Matter of Britain in a tragic tale of mystical plots with Merlin afoot and mistaken identity.
February 7, 2017
This was an assigned text from my Arthurian Legends class at William & Mary. I always meant to finish it--I think we only read a few things out of it, and there is evidence that I at least underlined a few things and wrote some dumb, now (and probably then) useless notes in the margins.
OK stories. Not sure what I'm supposed to get out of them, other than some descriptions of chivalry and how not to be a bad woman (don't cheat, don't be emotional, do what you're told). And this edition waxes rhapsodic about the original texts of all these stories, which were originally rendered in verse. So to have prose "updates" seems questionable--where's the beauty of the language, and how do we know what you've decided to "update" or not? Hmph.
OK stories. Not sure what I'm supposed to get out of them, other than some descriptions of chivalry and how not to be a bad woman (don't cheat, don't be emotional, do what you're told). And this edition waxes rhapsodic about the original texts of all these stories, which were originally rendered in verse. So to have prose "updates" seems questionable--where's the beauty of the language, and how do we know what you've decided to "update" or not? Hmph.
August 22, 2013
While I had read the majority of the stories in this book already, it was a good refresher. I was also glad to see that they went into some of the shorter Romances (such as the rather anachronistic story of Alexander the Great). It is, overall, a good spread subject-wise.
The translations themselves are on the dry side, however, despite the occasional humourous turn of phrase. They are certainly a product of their time, and no attempts are made to preserve style or meter. By way of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,' the translation was not inaccurate, but I much preferred Tolkien's, which preserved the alliterative format and occasional rhyme scheme. (That volume also contained his translation of 'Sir Orfeo,' another story featured here.)
It was an entertaining read, but I certainly would not recommend it as an introduction to Arthurian Romances.
The translations themselves are on the dry side, however, despite the occasional humourous turn of phrase. They are certainly a product of their time, and no attempts are made to preserve style or meter. By way of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,' the translation was not inaccurate, but I much preferred Tolkien's, which preserved the alliterative format and occasional rhyme scheme. (That volume also contained his translation of 'Sir Orfeo,' another story featured here.)
It was an entertaining read, but I certainly would not recommend it as an introduction to Arthurian Romances.
May 22, 2014
Read just one piece from this collection as part of my recent exploration of medieval romances. "Parzival" is an at times amusing, at times puzzling, but ultimately illuminating tale of a bumbling, thoughtless young peasant who eventually develops into honorable knight. I'm not sure I'd recommend this particular version of the epic poem, which was converted into a fairly pedestrian prose (or at least it seemed to me). And it also takes some getting used to the oddities of the work, which is a kind of morality play that illustrates proper behavior of the time, more than half a millenium ago. So, very interesting and I'm certainly glad it's now more familiar to me. But would I recommend it as a stand-alone read? Probably not.
October 23, 2007
An old college text, just when I was going to donate it, I find a picture of Mike Heron in the middle of Tristan and Isolt.
December 27, 2007
excerpts of love stories taken from the story of king arthur
August 26, 2008
Read this in school, for the King Arthur class. I want to pull it out and read it again someday.
February 10, 2011
College textbook
Want to read
November 20, 2012I'm not happy with this ancient edition. Any suggestions for a similar omnibus or for editions/translations of particular included pieces will be most welcome.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews