User:Mpohlman2000/sandbox

Based on Talk Page-

 * Where was Perceval written? (based on recent talk)
 * Some confusion about Le conte du graal & the continuations of it (based on older talk)

Based on Article Content-

 * Synopsis has little to no citations; maybe should cite a specific translation or something
 * Some of the continuation sections are short & primarily cite only 1 source
 * Could try to find more sources (especially more recent than 1990)
 * Bliocadran section has no citation
 * A couple of them link to corresponding articles, but those are pretty bare too & have broken links
 * Could elaborate on Influence section
 * Maybe remove the T.S. Eliot section since it's not really relevant/closely related to the other info in that section
 * Could expand Interpretations section (assuming this is appropriate for Wiki content)
 * Translation offers possible historical context
 * Maybe rename section to something along the lines of "possible contemporary influences"

11-2 Possible sources to apply:

 * Perceval: The Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes, Burton Raffel, and Joseph J. Duggan; accessed through JSTOR; an English translation of the tale, published in 1999
 * The Virgin and the Grail: Origins of a Legend by Joseph Goering; accessed through JSTOR; a secondary source examining the background/origins of the tale, could be useful for background info relevant to the piece's creation, published in 2005
 * Perceval's Unknown Sin: Narrative Theology in Chrétien's Story of the Grail by Sylvester George Tan; accessed through JSTOR; another secondary source, but could be useful for actually understanding the piece, may also have background info OR reference sources that could be relevant, published in 2014

Not for analysis but if we compile stuff derived from the legend:


 * Wagner's Parsifal by Burton D. Fisher; accessed through JSTOR; opera based on legend of Perceval

Synopsis
The poem opens with Perceval, whose mother has raised him apart from civilization in the forests of Wales. While out riding one day, he encounters a group of knights and realizes he wants to be one. Despite his mother's objections, the boy heads to King Arthur's court, where a young girl predicts greatness for him. Sir Kay taunts him and slaps the girl, but Perceval amazes everyone by killing a knight who had been troubling King Arthur and taking his vermilion armor. He then sets out for adventure. He trains under the experienced Gornemant, then falls in love with and rescues Gornemant's niece Blanchefleur. Perceval captures her assailants and sends them to King Arthur's court to proclaim Perceval's vow of revenge on Sir Kay.

Perceval remembers that his mother fainted when he went off to become a knight, and goes to visit her. During his journey, he comes across the Fisher King fishing in a boat on a river, who invites him to stay at his castle. While there Perceval witnesses a strange procession in which young men and women carry magnificent objects from one chamber to another. First comes a young man carrying a bleeding lance, then two boys carrying candelabra. Finally, a beautiful young girl emerges bearing an elaborately decorated graal, or grail, passing before him at each course of the meal. Perceval, who had been trained by his guardian Gornemant not to talk too much, remains silent through all of this. He wakes up the next morning alone and resumes his journey home. He encounters a girl in mourning, who admonishes him for not asking about the grail, as that would have healed the wounded king. He also learns that his mother has died.

Perceval captures another knight and sends him to King Arthur's court with the same message as before. King Arthur sets out to find Perceval and, upon finding him, attempts to convince him to join the court. Perceval unknowingly challenges Sir Kay to a fight, in which he breaks Sir Kay's arm and exacts his revenge. Perceval agrees to join the court, but soon after a loathly lady enters and admonishes Perceval once again for failing to ask the Fisher King whom the grail served.

No more is heard of Perceval except in a short later passage, in which a hermit explains that the grail contains a single mass-wafer that miraculously sustains the Fisher King’s wounded father. The loathly lady announces other quests that the Knights of the Round Table proceed to take up and the remainder of the poem deals with Arthur's nephew and best knight Gawain, who has been challenged to a duel by a knight who claims Gawain had slain his lord. Gawain offers a contrast and complement to Perceval's naiveté as a courtly knight having to function in un-courtly settings. An important episode is Gawain's liberation of a castle whose inhabitants include his long-lost mother and grandmother as well as his sister Clarissant, whose existence was unknown to him. This tale also breaks off unfinished.

Perceval's Influence on Middle Ages Literature
Remove the last paragraph: French filmmaker Éric Rohmer directed an eccentric adaptation titled Perceval le Gallois in 1978. T. S. Eliot cited the story of Percival, particularly the scene depicting his encounter with the Fisher King, as one of the primary symbolic backdrops in his poem The Waste Land.

Interpretations on Historical Context
Leave the original text: It is said by some scholars that during the time Chrétien was writing Perceval, there was a political crisis taking place between the monarchy and the aristocracy, which included his patron, Philip of Flanders, which may have influenced Chrétien’s work.

New additional text: Chrétien's Perceval contains possible parallels with the Irish mythological race of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The race has three central talismans- a spear, a cauldron, and a sword- that correlate with the spear, grail, and sword present in Perceval.

Chrétien's Perceval includes many similarities to the Irish saga The Boyhood Deeds of Finn. The main character, Finn, is raised in isolation and undergoes many adventures akin to those of Perceval, suggesting that the narrative may have been a source of inspiration for Chrétien.