Introduction
What's the big deal?
Did you know that if
you do a
search for "King Arthur" and "Holy Grail" you'll get back nearly 30
million web pages?! The grail romances play a central role in the
development of Western Culture from the early Grail Romance poems of
Chrétien de Troyes dating all the way back a thousand years to the
Middle Ages right up until today's long anticipated Hollywood
blockbuster,
'The Da
Vinci Code'.
We
hear about it not only in school but in
church as well
as on the radio and television. Grail symbolism is used in everything
from
Tarot Cards to
Psychology. There are books and movies, plays and musicals.
It seems nearly everyone has a different way of looking at this body of legends and literature. The question is how to dig into it in a way that makes you comfortable. With all the information available, this web site is necessarily a work in progress and will continue to grow over time as I get new ideas from my continued readings as well as student and faculty feedback. Each alternate text will have a sample passage or description with library and online bookstore links as well as lists of study question, guides to practice reading strategies and build background and content information.
Let's start with a bit of background on King Arthur and the Holy Grail...