Lovely Violence

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 'strange' 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 'medieval,' and at the same time resassuringly recognisable. The Middle Ages may not be so unmodern after all.