Thomas Malory and the Pictorial Interlace of La Queste del Saint Graal

Abstract

Scholars of medieval thought have occasionally noted the various manifestations of entrelacement in the literature, the art, the religious writing, and the scholarly treatises of the eleventh through thirteenth centuries. The term entrelacement refers to an aesthetic of the times, a mode of perception that can appear in different creative spheres and can assume various forms. Eugene Vinaver points out the parallels between interlace ornament in manuscript art and interlace structure in the French prose romances, and he suggests a further relationship to the scholastic principle of manifestatio. G. Webb also notes the similarity between the habits of thought producing the detailed, highly unified theology of the eleventh-century Cistercian writers and the elaborate compositions in the areas of art and literature; he comments that, 'One is conscious of magnificently uncluttered minds that rejoiced in fitting masses of detail into coordinated schemes.'

Thomas Malory as “Translator” and the Role of “Source Study” in Malory’s Tale of the Sankgreal

“…Interestingly, even a cursory consideration of instances where Malory amends or alters narrative details or structural aspects of his sources indicates that, like so many medieval authors, whose produce paradoxically both codified and re-contextualized source material (Copeland 95), Malory engages in actively reworking preexisting tales to fit his own narrative and thematic purposes, both in response to demands of style and authorial designs that -as Eugene Vinaver has suggested--can only be guessed at. In writing on Sankgreal and its source, Susanna Fein (1977) notes, that Vinaver considered the Sankgreal little more than a translation and called it 'the least original' of Malory's works (215). It is understandable, therefore, that with the appearance of Vinaver's influential 1947 edition of Malory's Works, critics noted Malory's "freedom of treatment" of sources (Wilson 136), v his tendency to avoid "undesirable repetition" and material that would "run counter to the general tone" of his own work (Wilson 24), and the sense that Malory appropriated his sources and worked them to mesh with a larger "thematic scheme" (Moorman 497).…”

“…While these approaches to Malory's tendencies as translator suggest how his version of a given episode, or entire text, may differ from their earlier forms, Malory's "decision to shorten them" also aids in the concentration of character and the psychological effect of Malory's narrative. Additionally, this also calls into question the definitive process of translation and interpretation which represent Malory's attitude towards his source material.In writing on Sankgreal and its source, Susanna Fein (1977) notes:…”