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Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner, Chrétien Continued: A Study of the Conte du Graal and Its Verse Continuations

The romances of Chrétien de Troyes are some of the best-known works of the Middle Ages, generative texts that have produced medieval prequels and sequels, adaptations, and translations, as well as modern texts, operas, and films, both comic and serious. Given the public’s enduring interest in the issues raised by Chrétien’s romances, as well as their bele conjointure, surprisingly little attention has been accorded to the verse continuations of what is arguably Chrétien’s greatest known work, the enigmatic and incomplete Roman de Perceval, ou le conte du Graal. This scholarly oversight has now been redressed by Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner’s insightful monograph. Bruckner first provides her readers with an overview of the works (work?) in question. Chrétien composed his Conte du Graal around 1181–91. The anonymous first continuation and the second continuation by Wauchier de Denain both date from the late twelfth century, while the third continuation by Manessier (ca. 1214–27) and the fourth continuation by Gerbert de Montreuil (ca. 1226–30) were written somewhat later and reflect the influence of the prose Vulgate cycle, notably the Queste del Saint Graal. The manuscript evidence shows that most medieval readers would not have encountered the Conte du Graal on its own but rather in combination with one or more of its continuations. In order to conceptualize how medieval texts might be continued or adapted, Bruckner defines what she calls ‘‘centripetal’’ and ‘‘centrifugal’’ textuality. On the one hand, centripetal textuality is exemplified by the prose Lancelot cycle, which incorporates and subsumes Chrétien’s texts and which is itself incorporated into the larger Vulgate cycle. Centrifugal textuality, on the other hand, is illustrated by the Perceval verse continuations, which cite and rely on Chrétien’s text as an authorizing