Apocalyptic Imagery in La Mort le roi Artu

Extract

[...] The literary dimension of the excerpt. 1. Another literary matter. Then, we are not in the same universe as that of the other parts corpus, Lancelot-Graal, with of battles, where dreams of heroism vie with courtly love. « ? ; he began to turn pale and to breathe sighs of despair ? In fact, we are in an excerpt filled with nostalgia for chivalric and courtly ideals, with this melancholy that makes human beings aware of something else, of elsewhere, aware of a difference between the past and the present, between the present and the future. [...]

[...] Thus, Arthurian literature allowed twelfth- and thirteenth-century novelists to describe a chivalrous and courtly golden age impossible to equal by their own modernity. To this end, it is nonetheless necessary to question the fact of remaining anchored in an apocalyptic genre that can also signify the inability, here, of knights such as Lancelot to approach the end of the world. [...]

[...] As for the studied excerpt, it concerns the departure of Lancelot from the kingdom of Logres. The text is taken from The Death of King Arthur, final installment of the Lancelot-Grail cycle that describes an Arthurian world on the brink of a threatening abyss that menaces traditional chivalric values. This is why, this excerpt gives the impression of coming from an apocalyptic inspiration despite a relatively limited presence of this kind of imaginary in the strict sense. In the 13th century, the apocalypse had the sense of 'revelation'. The Apocalypse designated a text of revelation. [...]

[...] It's very painful for Lancelot. « If it begins to harm itself and lasts this duel and so wonderful that no one who sees it is not moved to pity; and this duel lasts until the arrival. This is not without consequence for literary representation, as novelty calls for another more disparate poetic space, opposite to the old epic universe. Thus, the text marks the end of an adventure for Lancelot, so that from Knight of the Lion to the Death of King Arthur, the leap seems considerable. [...]

[...] From then on, the problem of the potential presence of an apocalyptic imaginary in the excerpt arises while being aware that The Death of King Arthur relates a revelation for the Arthurian cycle but also for literature. As a result, the analysis will focus on the determination of the apocalyptic value of the excerpt through the religious and then literary dimensions (II). I. The religious dimension of the excerpt 1. Link with the gaze. In the first place, this excerpt has something in common with a passage from the Gospel according to Matthew, the sermon on the mount. [...]