After reading, "Cliges," I sorta developed this style of is this a good read, or is this a long, strenuous read.
Within the first couple pages I was instantly hooked, which is a weird feeling, because my relationship with school reads have plummeted since I read Fahrenheit 451 freshmen year of high school.
I loved how committed young Alexander was to be a mature leader for his land, wanting to Serve under King Arthur and his high court.
However, as I continued to read this, we once again come up with the topic of love. I understand that this class is entitled, "Genre Studies: Medieval Romance," but my mind still wants that idea of it being medieval. You know, with the knights and the crusades, slaughter and ravaging every female thing in sight. That's what I would love to see. My mind doesn't grip with the idea that love is apparent in every concept of every human being. In my opinion, some people in this era didn't really give a flying shit (Yes I do understand that shit cannot fly, it's more of an expression.)
The one thing that baffles me the most, is that Brittany suspects Alexander of cheating. Within a blink of an eye, she goes 0-100 real quick, "Oh I love him... Oh I cannot stand the little bastard!!!" As I tell everyone, however, we all know that crazy chick named Brittany.
Overall, fascinating read, too long though, and it never gets to a solid point in my mind.
Well, um, I think you actually read the wrong story. I read "The Knight of the Cart" but what you say here i think can be applied to many of these stories. Like yourself, I also keep expecting those stereotypical situations we think of when we hear the word "medieval". I want it to be bloody and crude and full of outrageous adventures with dragons and knights and trolls. But alas, my expectations cannot be fully satisfied. I know it's important for the time, but I seriously cannot get over the fact that there are so many seemingly unnecessary descriptions of armor and food and the like. In fact, I skip over it a lot of the time. Get to the adventure already! But I digress...I think the point of all this is to, in fact, humanize the story (Did I just make up that word?) If I did, I think it's worth examining. Because these stories are so outrageous, we need some of those elements to slow us down when the characters go 0-100 in 2 seconds. It makes dealing with the fact that they weren't so different from us doable. It makes us connect to them. In a way, I think they lived in a much more romantic way than we do now. I mean, where do you think we got our notions from? Not just in a sexual man-and-woman thing, but also just in general. The fact that you can trust someone to keep to their honor is a rather romantic notion, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteI sort of like the romance ha-ha, but sometimes it gets incredibly repititve. I too, Rebecca, have a habit of skimming over the heavily detailed portions. I have to force myself to go back and really read them. I believe the romance adds to the stories though, it's the reason most of these knights are fighting in the first place. Honor, Love, Pride, etc. However, you can't beat a good duel.
ReplyDeleteHi Zach - Becca is right. We didn't read Cliges - but congrats, that means you have read a romance that I HAVE NEVER READ. So you are now ahead of me. Let this console you as you catch up for our next class meeting. ;-)
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