Perceval; or, The Story of the Grail

A true tour de force. . . . Cline gives us the best tool English has had to date for appreciating the earliest literary version of the well-born boor and habitual near-rapist who never knew when to speak and when to hold his peace and who, consequently, cannot get the Grail in his grasp.

An admirable, flowingly readable translation. It lilts gracefully along, most winningly, through all its lines. Cline's translation and excellent introduction to Perceval will reward either the scholar of the genre or one who reads it simply from delight in Arthurian lore.

* Wall Street Journal *

Cline deserves high praise for ingenuity and sheer courage . . . She is primarily interested in imparting a feeling for Chrétien as a master storyteller.

The translation itself is a remarkable blend of accuracy and ingenuity and offers the reader a much more vivid sense of medieval verse narrative than do prose translations. Chevilles are no commoner than in the original and stylistic infelicities are mercifully few. In short, the translation is well worth reading.

Cline succeeds in bringing out the liveliness and subtlety of Chretien's final (and uncompleted work).

Cline never sacrifices essential meaning for the demands of her poetic form.