(* indicates texts which can be found on-line, see links to the left)

Dorothy James Roberts' Kinsmen of the Grail, originally published in 1963, is a well-written and engrossing Arthurian novel based on the early 12th century Perlesvaus. Rather than concentrate on the title character, Perceval, its focus is Gawain and how he is torn between his own Grail quest and saving his uncle Arthur from the treachery of Kei and Bryant. Having read much of the original source material some 20 years ago, I can attest that Roberts' novel captures the feel of the originals (she was after all a medieval scholar), but avoids much of their oft-repeated clichés (damsels in distress sitting in the appropriate nasty enchanter/knight/giant's castle, jousting scenes, purely chivalrous romance, and the "meanwhile knight X was..." tangents). This and her use of simple modern English (as opposed to archaisms like "forsooth" and "yclept") provide a fresh, very readable and entertaining approach to what can at times be a very tired genre.

As the author points out, many English readers see the stories of Arthur, and in particular of the Grail Quest by Perceval and others, as a strictly English purview. After all, Arthur makes his first appearance in the Welsh monk Nennius' 9th century Historia Brittonum* and it is the early British "historian" Geoffrey of Monmouth who creates much of the Arthurian mythology in his Historia Regum Britanniae* (c. 1150). They may then think of the early 12th century Welsh Mabinogion account of "Peredur"* and the 14th century Sir Perceval de Galles* -- in more recent times of Sir Thomas Malory's massive 15th century La Morte d'Arthur,* and the Victorian Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson.* Even more recent writers like T.H. White (The Once and Future King) and Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon series are the product of English writers.

However if you were scouting out Arthuriana in the monasteries of 13th century Europe you would have found a huge preponderance of French metrical and prose romances. The earliest of these was Chrètien de Troyes' (1135-1190) uncompleted metrical romance, Perceval* (a.k.a. Conte du Graal, c. 1180). A number of completions of his work were undertaken throughout the early 12th century, including Robert de Boron's now fragmentary Perceval. Around 1120, an anonymous author put together Perlesvaus a.k.a. Le Haut Livre du Graal which survives in two complete manuscripts (Oxford and Brussels) and numerous fragments. This work gathered, in one text, all of the Grail legend and was one of the earliest prose texts in the French language. While it is the story of Perceval's Grail quest, Perlesvaus spends several chapters following Gawain's adventures. Gawain is presented as one of Arthur's top knights, and though somewhat quick to anger, he certainly isn't the object of ridicule that Malory would later make him out to be. So it is from Perlesvaus, and not English sources, that Roberts has taken her inspiration.

What I most enjoyed in the portrayal of Gawain was the author's keen observation of a middle-aged man. At the time of the story Gawain has been a knight for some 20-odd years; he's still a powerful knight but he knows he's slowing down and that he increasingly needs to rely on his experience rather than merely physical prowess. He's just a bit irked when the young Perceval, who has been kept shielded from all knightly pursuits by his mother, goes off to the City of Legions (i.e., Camelot), pulls an enchanted sword out of a stone, and becomes "super-knight" overnight -- not to mention that Gawain's killed his best horse, been beaten up and roamed around lost for days trying to track Perceval down.

Widowed for many years, but not averse to an inn-keeper's daughter here and there, Gawain falls deeply in love with Perceval's widowed mother, Iglais. An impatient man and a hardened warrior he is entranced and confused by her pacifism and how at peace she appears amidst the turmoil around her, but he loses her when she must retire to a convent for her son to fulfil his destiny. A thoroughly practical man, he is gradually led, through her and others, to search for the Grail, believed to be in the possession of certain members of Perceval's family. This quest for both the object and what it represents leads him through a spiritual learning experience which draws him more and more urgently to the Grail. But he is pledged to Arthur, and when Kei and Bryant begin to plot against the king, Gawain is torn between his duty and his personal quest.

While I highly recommend going back to the original sources, you certainly won't find there the same focus on the personal and spiritual development of a specific character as that which Roberts has portrayed so well with Gawain in Kinsmen of the Grail. Roberts has melded the best elements of the modern novel with the early Arthurian romance to create a character who isn't just another cardboard knight on yet another damsel in distress rescue mission. So if you're tired of the invincible pretty boy Launcelot (Richard Gere comes to mind here), and the doltishly innocent Perceval, try the story of a real ol' trooper of a knight -- it's in Dorothy James Roberts' Kinsmen of the Grail.