Chrétien’s Best and Worst: Le Chevalier de la charrette

Lukas Ovrom, Ph.D.

University of Georgia

Chrétien’s Best and Worst: Le Chevalier de la charrette

In Chrétien de Troyes’ Chevalier de la Charrette or Le Roman de Lancelot (c.1180), the eponymous hero is portrayed by turns as the best and the worst knight in the ranks of the Arthurian Round Table. In this talk, I consider how such vacillation resurfaces in the reception of Chrétien’s seminal work, often noted for its lasting impact on European Medieval Literature and yet criticized on account of the many unfinished qualities that together contribute to its draft-like feel and mysterious organizing principles.