The tale begins when a young knight, Sir Calogrenant, returns to King Arthur's court beaten and defeated. He tells the court how he can upon a fountain with a magical stone which, when water is poured on it, promises plenty of adventure. He is immediately confronted by another knight claiming Calogrenant has attacked his domain by drenching the stone. The two men joust and Calogrenant loses, limping home weak and wounded.
It is his cousin Yvain who vows to avenge him, traveling to the fountain, pouring water on the stone, and jousting with the same knight, Sir Esclados, who attacked Calogrenant. When Sir Esclados dies from his wounds, his widow, Laudine, wants Yvain found and killed. But Yvain is already in her castle, and seeks the help of Lunette, handmaid to Laudine. However, as soon as he sees Laudine, he falls in love with her, and now wants Lunette to help him with her over. Which she does, and Yvain and Laudine are soon married.
But it doesn't take long for Yvain to want to go off with King Arthur and Gawain to prove his valor to Laudine through jousting and feats of arms. Laudine agrees, but tells Yvain he must be back in one year or her love will turn to hate. True to her word, when the allotted year ends and Yvain isn't back yet, Laudine's love becomes bitter hate and she refuses to forgive Yvain.
Dejected, out of his mind with rage and self-hate, Yvain leaves, becoming a hermit. When he saves a lion from a violent attack, the lion becomes his faithful companion. When Yvain discovers that Lunette is about to he put to death for advising Laudine to marry him, and who now feels betrayed by Lunette. Yvain promises to be her champion and defeat three of Laudine's courtiers to save Lunette from death. But can Yvain redeem himself and become the knight he once was, even winning back Laudine's love?
More sophisticated than most graphic novels, both Anderson and Offermann have captured the real essence of the medieval courtly romance. Originally, these were adventure stories told for entertainment in aristocratic court circles about knights going out on quests in search of adventure, often for the love of a lady. And that is just what happens in this interpretation of the Yvain story. But it is so much more than that. The original knight errant story focuses on the knight - everyone else is there only as extensions to his questing. Anderson has highlighted both Laudine and Lunette as strong women in their own right, they are more than just there to put a spotlight on Yvain. Even Yvain's lion has a personality and part of his own.
This is such a beautiful interpretation of the Yvain story. Anderson does stick to the basic Chrétien story - avenging his cousin's defeat, falling in love with and marrying Laudine, even unknowingly jousting Gawain, then being persuaded to go off on a year of adventuring after much goading on Gawain's part, going mad when she rejects Yvain, rescuing a lion and deciding to win back Laudine. It's all there but with a new sensibility.
Originally, knights didn't much care about anyone but themselves. Even the ladies they adventured and fought for were only there as beautiful objects, not because of any real love or loyalty. Anderson's Yvain begins the same way - a knight seeking glory for himself. Yvain gets a real wakeup call when he is rejected by Laudine, never really expecting that ignoring her request to return at the end of a year would have such serious consequences. Laudine is a woman with political power, feelings and emotions, and apparently capable of real anger, all on display here.
As much as I always loved Medieval literature, my favorite was always Parsifal because you can see his growth from a flawed boy who doesn't understand what it means to be a knight to an man who does. In a way, that is the Yvain that Anderson gives us. Already a knight of the Round Table, he too is a flawed character, still having much to learn about love and loyalty. And unlike the original Arthurian tales, in this version, Yvain doesn't always win his jousting adventures.
Anderson does, indeed, give us a wonderful, energetic retelling of Yvain, and Andrea Offermann's graphic art is quite simply spectacular. She apparently spent a lot of time studying medieval tapestries and each panel felt to me like an illuminated manuscript from that time. Many of the spreads are wordless, and though they are sometimes a bit violent and grisly, they easily move the story forward. You might want to listen to her talk about her process:
Yvain: the Knight of the Lion is an excellent book for anyone interested in Medieval literature, Arthurian tales, adventure stories, or graphic novels.
This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley, but it was so wonderful, I bought my own copy of it for my personal library.
This book sounds like one I will love. I am a medievalist at heart too and I LOVE graphic novels. Yay. Putting this on my list and looking forward to reading it. Thanks so much! It sounds fabulous.
ReplyDelete~Jess