Lancelot; Or, the Knight of the Cart - by Chrétien de Troyes (Paperback)

About the Book

In this verse translation of Chrétien de Troyes's Lancelot, Ruth Harwood Cline revives the original story of the immortal love affair between Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, a tale that has spawned interpretations ranging from Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur to Lerner and Lowe's Camelot.

Book Synopsis

In this verse translation of Chrétien de Troyes's Lancelot, Ruth Harwood Cline revives the original story of the immortal love affair between Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, a tale that has spawned interpretations ranging from Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur to Lerner and Lowe's Camelot.

By remaining faithful to Chrétien's highly structured form, Cline preserves the pace, the pungency of proverbial expressions, and the work's poetical devices and word play in translating this archetypal tale of courtly love from Old French into modern English. Cline's introduction--containing a description of Arthur in history and literature, a discussion of courtly love, and an account of the continuations of the story of Lancelot and Guinevere--makes Lancelot an ideal classroom text.

Review Quotes

Cline has managed a tour de force . . . her lilting translations are trend-setting in the translation of medieval material.

--Translation Review

Cline's verse gives far more a sense that Chrétien composed poetic narrative. Highly recommended.

--Forum for Modern Language Studies

It certainly is a tour de force . . . for those who prefer verse, this presentation has much to recommend it.

--Modern Language Review

There must be room for a rhymed verse translation of Lancelot; I doubt if we shall see a better one.

--French Studies

About the Author

CHRÉTIEN DE TROYES (1135?-1191?) was a French poet and trouvère. He is widely regarded as the creator of the literary genre known as the Arthurian romance, and the originator of the heroic medieval character Lancelot.