week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

Number of replies: 15

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.
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Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Anna Pavlova -
The first part of the romance deals with the concepts of gallantry, adventures, and love, which are common for chivalry literature. There is also a motif of marvel and wonder typical for a medieval romance. Another significant feature is exaggeration and idealisation. The loathly man is described in great detail: “His head was as great as that of a horse or ox, and his hair hung down to his belt,” “His brows were like little bushes and his teeth like boar tusks,” and Alundyne is so beautiful that “no man can describe.”

What I find unusual is that this romance is about a married couple. Ywain has to win Alundyne BACK. I think it is quite uncommon.

The English version is definitely easier to read. It is more focused on action and seems more dynamic. Chrétien’s work has a slower pace due to its descriptive character.
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Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Jiří Chytrý -
 
For me, the unusual and the typical kind of blended together. I was, at first, slightly amused by the exotic fauna Colgrevance encounters on his adventure ("For thare was mani a wilde lebard, / Lions, beres, bath bul and bare," [240-241]), but soon I could see it as part of a lager topos, that of the peripheral regions: the chaotic realm of the Faerie (with all those giants and supernatural storms), as opposed to the ordered, human world of the centre, civilization.  Another intriguing (but perhaps not surprising) aspect then was how these two zones can co-exist next to each other without much drama, the periphery is no longer an existential threat to the centre as in Beowulf or heroic epic in general, but is more like a proving ground for the knights: an anti-thesis, no longer to be overcome or subdued, but to be learned from, to return changed. It is not out of necessity to defend his people that Colgrevance seeks out these lands, but simply out of desire to prove himself. 
In reply to Jiří Chytrý

Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Helena Znojemská -
Reading Colgrevance's quest as adventure for adventure's sake is correct, I think, and the emphasis on the marvelous might be part of that positioning (though of course there are marvelous elements in Yvain's experience as well) . We could look at the meaning of this as a starting point in the entire romance and see how the nature of "adventure" develops.
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Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Štěpán Rybák -
Reading the first part of the romance, what really strikes me is how the author deals with the problem that in order for the story to be a thrilling narration, there has to be a conflict. As it seems to me, most of the conflicts unsurprisingly revolve around preserving men's honour and dignity, but it is the female protagonists that either prompt a confrontation or control it. Sir Kay is thrown into disarray by the Queen who puts away her courtly conduct (lines 63-66) and it is the maiden who is able to prevent Alundyne from seeking blood feud (line 999 and following). In this context, women appear to me to constitute an unexpected transgressive feature.
On the other hand, I consider the lamentation over the rottenness of contemporary times to be a classical mediaeval literary topos, connected to the general notion of idealisation of the described mythical era.
I believe there can be little doubt about Chrétien's original work being more profound. At the same time, there are a couple of semantic shifts between the versions. To name one, Chrétien seems to be more focused on the virtue of love, whereas the English version presents an image of the value of bravery (Some told stories to amuse them,
While others there spoke of Amor x They spoke courteously
of deeds of arms and hunting /lines 25-26/).
In reply to Štěpán Rybák

Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Helena Znojemská -
Most of your observations (the topos, the difference in emphasis in the original / English version) is spot on. The role of women seems worth further debate. The instances you mention might appear transgressive, but I wonder whot others think of this?
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Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Adéla Chvátalová -
Reading the text, I think there can be found similarities with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Both stories start with a feast ("Arthur, the good King of Britain, whose prowess teaches us that we, too, should be brave and courteous, held a rich and royal court upon that precious feast-day which is always known by the name of Pentecost." [1-prosaic version]) and then the main hero must go on a journey to meet their opponent. The text demonstrates themes typical of this genre such as chivalry, later courtly love and the supernatural elements ("Then to the spring he made his way, and found there all that he wished to see. Without hesitation and without sitting down he poured the basin full of water upon the stone, when straightway it began to blow and rain, and such a storm was caused as had been foretold." [1]). What surprised me was, that a significant portion of the text was focused on Yvain and Alundyne's budding relationship. The section where Yvain is travelling and then fighting Alundyne's husband is much shorter, which is in my opinion quite unusual because authors usually give more space to the action itself.
In reply to Adéla Chvátalová

Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Helena Znojemská -
Perhaps the last thing you mention has to do with a shift in focus: the "adventure aspect" has been covered thoroughly by Colgrevant, so dwelling on Yvain's experience (a replay of sorts) might seem superfluous. However, it apparently did not seem superfluous to the English "translator", whose account of the battle is much more extensive than that found in the original. Chrétien, as you suggest, meanwhile moves to issues of love - perhaps this is another aspect that might be compared with the English version?
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Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Jáchym Hájek -
What I see as a typical thing, yet in this case slightly added-on, is service to a lady as part of the virtue of chivalry. Thus is Colgrevance compelled to continue his story, now not merely as a way to pass the time, but because a lady urged him to. The text presents both the platonic love a knight has for a lady – she is the wife of someone else, so his goal is not to woo her – and the more worldly type of love, which Ywain feels for Alundyne. There is the typical quest for honour and glory as well, which leads Colgrevance to summon his opponent by pouring water over the stone – there was no need for that, except taht he was told no one else managed to win that fight yet. In Ywain's case, it becomes a quest to regain honour for his cousin.
The surprising thing for me was chiefly the keeper of the beasts, as such a figure seemed destined to be an enemy – he controls nature, is huge and misshapen, and possesses great power, apparently. Yet he was not an obstacle, nor were his power at all important to the story. He was basically just a really fantastical signpost.
In reply to Jáchym Hájek

Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Helena Znojemská -
Good point about the giant - one just waits for a fight to happen, and apparently Colgrevance also assumes this course of events, and yet his role is completely different in the end. This is how it works in Ywaine and Gawaine, because a giant figure had become established as an opponent by a long tradition of (esp. popular) romance. I wonder about Chrétien though - remember he's the one to start that tradition. Perhaps it doesn't make any difference because of the building of expectations through the ominous description...
I'm not sure about Colgrevance though, because the giant doesn't mention the knight, just the violence of the storm as a test in itself. Ultimately, of course, the motivation you mention remains - this is just a minor correction.
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Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Anastasiya Nováková -
As a representative of English Medieval Romance, Yvain possesses several of its typical elements. One of those is an idealisation of the hero – Yvain. It is interesting, though, that it was done not by a narrator but by one of the characters – Lunet – when she is lauding him before Laudine as a potential husband:
"Madame," sho said, "I dar warand,
A genteler lord es none lifand;
The hendest man ye sal him fynde,
That ever come of Adams kynde.”

After Laudine’s husband’s death, she was still in charge of his land, which surprised me.
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Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Vojtěch Ripl -
What I find quite interesting and perhaps telling is the slight shift in the rueful reminiscence in the beginning introduction of the story. Whereas in Chrétien's version more focus is given to the lack of true "disciples of Amor" and the fact that "True love seems fable to those I cite,/Who boast of love but lack the right[...]". The original, I feel, concentrates this lamentation much more around the corruption in love, which has lying as one of its symptoms.
The English version, on the other hand, problematizes the issues of lying, breaking one's promise or even craftily using language to shape the truth to one’s advantage, as in, for example: "For trowth and luf es al bylaft;/Men uses now another craft./With worde men makes it trew and stabil,/Bot in thaire faith es noght bot fabil;/With the mowth men makes it hale,/Bot trew trowth es nane in the tale"
This change of focus seems of some significance and is further developed in the introduction, for example, when Colgrevance states that the words that are stated have to be believed in the heart or when pointing out Sir Kay's "weked wordes" (for which he is later duly punished). This would suggest that it could be a theme developed further in the whole story.
For example, I find it interesting that Ywain goes back on his word, in a scene when he swears that he will defend Alundyne against Arthur (to whom I presumed he was sworn already as a knight) or mainly when he doesn't come back after the year, which is a centraů event in the story. Perhaps, in a sense, even Lunet engages in manipulation, first, when she nudges Alundyne to thinking she needs to marry Ywain and then at the end. However, I am not sure that in these situations it is taken as a negative thing.
In reply to Vojtěch Ripl

Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Helena Znojemská -
A good observation indeed! I'm not even sure whether the original is concerned with lying at all - pehaps pretence, not as deceit but as laying claim to something unrightly. Both the original and the English refer to "fable", but they don't seem to be talking of the same thing...
Ywain's breaches of promise - the two instances are not the same, the first could be described as exploring the different implications of the statement, its semantic ambiguity. If Ywain promises to keep peace in Alundyne's lands and maintain her rights against Arthur, she expects him to mount a campaign to defeat Arthur. But he can confidently promise that he will avert the war, with no loss to herself, due to his position with the king.
The moral aspect of Lunette's behaviour - would depend on whether what she achieves by it can be seen as good in the respective value systems of Yvain and Ywaine and Gawaine, I suppose.
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Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Veronika Šteflová -
The nuance that appears the most prominent to me is the amount of emphasis given on two different matters. In Chretién the theme of love (or Amor, to keep things authentic) is much more prominent. What a timeless motif, even more so of the love is largely idealized (just like a perfect, pale, soft, loyal, morally good type of a maiden. Alundyne seems to fit such description, does't she?). Overall, Chretién portrays Ywain is motivated by love - as being the highest of virtues. Few of magical elements add a gothic novel-type of sense, for instance the ring that has power to make a man invisible. (As the bark protects the tree,
so shall my ring do for you.
No harm will come to you
when you hold the stone in your hand, for it has such power
that no man will see you.)
This makes the maiden even more so fairy-like, but also elevates the story. Who would, if not the moral Ywain, be worthy of such a magical gift? Intrictingly, Ywain has to return the ring upon her request, which do not fit the typical Middle English story where the female character is helpless, waiting to be saved. Here, Alundyne is in her power.

Contrastingly, in the English version of the story, the theme of chivalry is highlighted (the term chivalry being the umbrella term for bravery to fight all the "beasts", devotion, honor, status, moral fitness). Ywain is motivated by the chivalry he wants to perform. Such theme is much more typical for middle English literature. The element of love/romance is sometimes added, but the theme of chivalry is always there. Power and skill, too, seem to be a huge theme. (Finally Sir Ywain
proved his prowess
with a blow that split
his opponent’s helm and brainpan.)
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Re: week 2: Chrétien and its English redaction - the concerns of romance

by Noëllie Bassompierre-Sewrin -
Reading the texts, what struck me the most was the difference of pace between Chretien's version and the English one. In the latter, the action is fast paced and rendered mostly through direct speech, it is less contemplative and prone to reflexion. The blend of the real and the uncanny which is imbued in Chretien's work, is less impregnated in the other text, which leaves room for a more succinct and perhaps less embellished and nuanced form of narration. What stood up as unusual to me is the overall use of irony when seriousness might be expected, as the texts deal with virtuous matters.