Tristan and Iseult

Description

The romance of Tristan and Iseult, as it is told by Joseph Bedier, is one of the most powerful reiterations of the Celtic legend. The love between the Irish princess, Iseult and Tristan, a Cornish knight defies all odds and it is made even more captivating by Bedier’s eloquence in the rewriting. According to Bedier, his version of the legend is an adaptation of the original myth. The story being passed on orally for generations, Bedier’s Tristan and Iseult is elegantly worded, yet easy to read and highly enjoyable for contemporary readers as well.

At the beginning of the story, Tristan is on his way to meet Iseult and to bring her to his uncle, King Mark to wed. However, on their way they both swallow a powerful potion that makes them fall in love with each other. Iseult eventually marries Tristan’s uncle, but the two lovers cannot bear the separation. The two go through grave dangers to be together, risking execution, but later on being forgiven and the ending of the story is also full of suspense, intrigue and complexity.

The Medieval legend of Tristan and Iseult, in some versions spelled Isolde, has been around for more than one thousand years, being the story that introduces the notion of highly problematic, hopeless, yet chivalriclove to Western culture as well as a story of the most moving representations of inner conflict and forgiveness ever. The story has provided inspiration not only for Joseph Bedier, one of the most notable French historians of the Medieval Era, to rewrite it, but for numerous other artists, including painters such as Herbert Draper and Edmund Blair Leighton, composers such as Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Benjamin Britten, Stravinsky, Debussy and Ravel, to provide their own interpretations of one of the most powerful love stories ever.
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