The stars, mildew, rust and the waste land in the Story of the Grail

Abstract

When the Grail emerged unobtrusively for the first time shortly after 1180 in The Story of the Grail authored by Chrétien de Troyes it was hardly noticeable. It emerged in the context, viewed from certain angles, of a table ritual on the occasion of a feast presented by the Fisher King to young Perceval whom he invited to share his table. When it appeared before the two table guests it did not stop in front of them but disappeared into a side chamber. It was accompanied by a plate, a serving dish on which to carve meat. But it was also preceded by a bleeding lance whose presence at the feast seemed wholly out of context and inexplicable. The rather cryptic description of the grail, replete with hidden meanings and ambiguities, started a myth, more evocative than anything the Middle Ages had ever known. The Grail theme remained in evidence throughout the Middle Ages, then disappeared from the 16th to the 19th century, then sprang into life vividly once more in the form of Wagnerian opera as Parzifal. Today all manifestations of the Grail are egregiously misrepresented as if it had always been the Holy Grail. It behooves us to take another look at its earliest manifestation before all the transformations and Christianisations to which it was subjected by western culture. In fact, the original Grail had nothing at all in common with Christianity.