Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and French Arthurian romance
By: Ad Putter.
Publisher: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Oxford; Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 279
Subjects: Gawain and the Grene Knight; Gawain (Legendary character) -- Romances -- History and criticism; Literature, Comparative -- English (Middle) and French (Old); Literature, Comparative -- French (Old) and English (Middle); French poetry -- To 1500 -- History and criticism; Arthurian romances -- History and criticism; Romances, English -- History and criticism; Knights and knighthood in literature; Chivalry in literature
Description: This is an innovative and original exploration of the connections between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, one of the most well-known works of medieval English literature, and the tradition of French Arthurian romance, best-known through the works of Chretien de Troyes two centuries earlier.

The book compares Gawain with a wide range of French Arthurian romances, exploring their recurrent structural patterns and motifs, their ethical orientation and the social context in which they were produced. It presents a wealth of new sources and analogues, which reveal and illuminate the Gawain-poet's sophisticated literary and moral understanding of the conventions of Arthurian romance.

Throughout, Ad Putter pays close attention to the ways in which the modes of representation in romance are related to social and historical contexts. Focusing on the importance of conscience, courtliness, and self-restraint in Arthurian romance, this book explores the ways in which literati such as Chretien de Troyes and the Gawain-poet adapted chivalric ideals to the changing times.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [251]-273) and index.