1 thematic characteristics of romance; romance in English 1

By many scholars Chrétien is recognized as the inventor of Arthurian romance and Yvain is in many ways typical of his corpus. Some 150 years later Yvain was rendered into Middle English as Iwaine and Gawaine.
We will use a selection of corresponding passages from the French and the Middle English version to explore the core concerns of romance in general, as well as the differences in approach between Chrétien and his English "translator" (to a large extent representative of the distinction between "classical" French and English romance in general). The selected passages comprise about a quarter of the entire text.

• I suggest you start with the plot summary to form a general idea of "what goes on and what's at stake" in the tale as a whole.
• for the forum: I'd like to ask you to read the first part of the English material - the build-up towards the actual Yvain story.
  You can take this as an account of a "generic knightly adventure", a foil to what happens later. Try to list your general impressions as regards dominant themes, motifs, the ways the events are presented... Pick one feature you find typical and one that you found surprising (if any) for the forum, keep track of the rest for the class session.
• combined: I'd like to ask you to compare the passages highlighted in blue in the English material with the corresponding passages in Chrétien.
  I give you two versions of translation, poetic and prosaic, to cater for diverse tastes ;-)
  session only:
  1) the first, introductory passage - on Arthur, his knights, his time etc.: do the two versions emphasise the same things? If not, what's the respective emphasis in each?
  forum and session:
  2) the central passage - Yvain coming to terms with Alundine;
      I suppose we will get here in the realm of value judgment: in your reading, is what the English version performs a streamlining or a reduction? Be prepared to discuss the reasons for your verdict (session).
      How do the two versions (French/English) read? Try to describe what you value and/or dislike about either. Considering their differences, what effect or goal are they, in your opinion, respectively after? Pick one feature for the forum, keep track of the rest for the class session.

The expanded material provides us with the opportunity to further explore, confirm or attune our perceptions of the text which we formed on the basis of the first reading.

To give you a better idea of the "redemptive part" of Ywain's story, I supply it in full in modern English prosaic translation (also because the summary is very selective here).
Selected passages are given in the original with notes and translation, together with parallel passages from Chrétien's source in poetic and prosaic translation

forum:
Choose one incident/passage that you find especially illustrative of the differences in approach between Chrétien and the Middle English adaptation and comment on it briefly.
session:
I would like to ask each of you to consider how the latter part of the romance stands in relation to the points we debated last week - the various value systems that may define chivalry and that combine in the romance: the ethos of adventure for adventure's sake, the obligations within the male group, the service of love, the social responsibilities; additionally, we could speak of cohesive/divisive tendencies within these categories, though we didn't: revenge for a friend, rivalry with a peer etc. Does the latter part of the romance resolve the tensions we have observed in the first part? Try to argue your stance with one example from the story.