Stamina Pays Off!

First of all, Leighton Pugh’s reading is a ‘tour-de-force’. He just keeps going, and never stumbles. The fantastic and wonderful names of kings and courtiers, the precious stones, the wondrous cloths which bedeck ladies and knights alike - all are fluently presented to us. He also “voices” the many characters supremely well.

The latter is so important: the cast of Parzival is very extensive, and readers need all the help they can get in identifying Who’s Who. It certainly does take stamina to see this Romance through to the end.

So why spend time listening or reading? For me, it is the sheer outlandishness of the society presented here. It’s rather like Science Fiction (in the same manner as “The Tale of the Genji”, it’s near-contemporary from Japan). Macho knights who will ride full-tilt and hell-for-leather at each other, with no reason other than to increase their fame. The fabulous lists mentioned above, and of course the ladies who this is largely all about. Courtly Love (though things do get physical, but only when the banns have been read, of course…). Science Fiction? Read about the lethal bed which runs amok on its whirring cogs ang wheels; and the magic column which shows images from MILES away! Very strange…

Here I must pause to express my admiration for the author, Wolfram Von Eschenbach: a more genial narrator I cannot imagine. The twinkle when he mentions “”The Ladies”, his contemporary references and knowing asides. These all help make “Parzival” real, and palatable as a story; which, after all has passed its seven hundredth anniversary.

Tastes change, and what seemed wondrous then may seem less-so now to our jaded-sophisticated preferences. Make no mistake, to listen to “Parzival” in its entirety is quite an undertaking. (I met the Romance as part of my degree course many moons ago; it was a vague acquaintance which seeded the desire in me to meet again). Having finished the course, so-to-speak, I realise that I will have to revisit again and again, in order to piece together the events and relationships which still elude me: one cannot merely flirt with this Romance; one must go for a lasting relationship!

Don’t be put off by the long opening sections, which are all about Gahmuret, Parzival’s father, nor by the much later lengthy divagation which concerns the adventures of Sir Gawain (Gawain): it does all come together in the end.

Ah, yes, and there’s the Grail and the Fisher King, familiar to a modern audience, at least by name; and the “Bildungsroman” element of Parzival himself who transforms from a callow youth into one of the most renowned knights in Christendom. ( He does, at last, manage to ask the right question - the import of which foxed me as a student, and still does - ). Christendom: one of the things I appreciate here is that the Xtian aspect of things is not laid on with a trowel, except in set- prices, as in the finale when Parzival’s long-lost, multi-colour half-brother is baptised and renounces his heathen ways (which qualifies him for the woman of his dreams). But that’s my bias.

So, my advice is to give it a go, if you like this sort of thing. If not, there’s Roger Lancelyn Greene’ s classic retelling of many Arthurian stories, which set me on the road of Chivalry!

P.S. Sorry there are no names here: I couldn’t begin to spell them without a text to hand. Enjoy!

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