Introduction (1998)

Introduction NORRIS J. LACY The Grail, a talisman generally presented also as a holy object, never ceases to fascinate scholars and casual readers alike. Debate continues concerning its origins and meaning; it takes a number of different forms; and, perhaps most notably, it provokes a quest, the object ofwhich is often not to recover the Grail, but instead to ask a particular question concerning it. The first ofthose matters, concerning Grail origins, no longer excites the degree of interest and stimulates the volume of research it once did. That change is due not to scholarly agreement (ofwhich there is little or none— does the Grail have roots in Celtic lore, vegetation myths, eastern tales, the liturgy, or the cult ofrelics?) but more likely to skepticism that those origins can ever be discovered. In a more general way it also reflects, to a considerable extent, a fundamental shift ofscholarly interest away from the broad area of sources and analogues and toward the literary interpretation oftexts. That is not to suggest that there is no longer interest in such matters, and new theories of Grail origins do still appear on occasion. Indeed, one was proposed for this issue of Arthuriana, though only after the decision was made to limit contents to the critical study ofliterary Grail texts. The Grail itselfis not infrequently described, by scholars and enthusiasts, as a mystery or an enigma. Yet, the most enigmatic fact about the Grail may well be that, while it continues to fascinate, it is in a sense no enigma at all. Although the Grail and the legend may not have been invented out ofwhole cloth, that is, although they may be influenced by if not descended from other stories, we nonetheless know what a 'graal' was in the twelfth century: it was an ordinary serving vessel or platter. We also know that in its first literary appearance, in Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval, it was a similar vessel, though described as a marvelous and mysterious object from which light emanated; only later in his unfinished romance does Chrétien describe it as a 'very holy object'—as ifhis own conception ofthe Grail had evolved during his composition—and explain that it contains a single mass wafer capable of ARTHURIANA 8.1 (1998) 4 ARTHURIANA sustaining life indefinitely. We know too that in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival it is a stone, identified enigmatically as a lapsit exillis. And we know that around the year 1200 Robert de Boron, a mediocre poet but a visionary, apparently made the inspired decision to transform it into the chalice and the vessel in which Christ's blood was collected at the crucifixion. It is Robert's innovation that has persisted, and it has persisted in the face of occasional artistic creations—some would say perversions— that, especially during the twentieth century, present a Grail that is made of wood or paper, that is the object ofderision, or that may not exist at all. The focus of Arthuriana 8.1 is the function and presentation of the Grail in medieval literary texts, and a primary emphasis ofmost ofthe essays is the quest. Indeed, the Grail, as a productive motif, is scarcely conceivable apart from the quest, which motivates knights, exposes them to danger, offers opportunities for chivalric accomplishment, and distinguishes the worthy from the flawed. Rarely does the successful knight, either in medieval or modern accounts, take possession ofthe Grail; rather, we are most often told, he "accomplishes the quest." This shift offocus from the object to the conduct ofits questors suggests another important fact about the quest: the process ofseeking is at least as crucial as the act offinding. And there is good reason for that: when all knights save one (the elect, Galahad) are unworthy, a measure ofnobility, even tragedy, often attaches to the efforts of those who, predestined to fail, nonetheless spend their lives in futile pursuit ofthe Grail. Yet, the exclusivity ofthe quest, especially in the French Queste delsaint Graal, may also pose a potential problem. Ifit can be accomplished only by a knight—in this case that is Galahad—unsullied by sin or even by temptation, is it not an act ofpride, and...