Lovely Violence: Chrétien De Troyes' Critical Romances

In Lovely Violence: Chretien de Troyes' Critical Romances, Jorgen Bruhn rereads the well-known but still intriguing chivalric novels of the medieval French author Chretien de Troyes (from the second half of the twelfth century, probably in northern France). Jorgen Bruhn-who is trained in modern comparative literature and literary theory-engages in a meeting with the medieval texts where the "e;strange"e; medieval contexts and texts are played up against more familiar contemporary concerns around textuality, gender and in particular the vexed question of violence.After an introduction and an attempt to construct a useful context around the texts of Chretien de Troyes, Bruhn discusses the five chivalric novels which are normally known under the names of the more or less heroic heroes: Erec, Cliges, Yvain, Lancelot and Perceval. The medieval characters turn out to behave in ways that are both shockingly strange and "e;medieval,"e; and at the same time resassuringly recognisable. The Middle Ages may not be so unmodern after all.