Recent Reads {The Romance of Tristan}

The Romance of Tristan by Beroul, and The Tale of Tristan's Madness, translated together by Alan S. Fedrick - It seems to me that the Tristan and Isolde stories vary so widely that it's hard to believe any of them come from a common source.  I was looking for a version of the story that was suitable for kids and never did find it, but I did pick up this translation of a very old written source.  Beroul's epic poem - or, the portions that remain of it - is thought to be the oldest extant version of the Tristan and Isolde narrative, and it is translated into English prose by Alan S. Fedrick.  There are amusing and odd details throughout, and the story is quite a bit different from the Avalon novels I read recently, and different from almost any popular version I've ever heard.  The story-telling style is also a departure from what modern readers are used to, but Fedrick's introduction does a fair job of explaining how troubadour or jongleur stories were commonly told and how the tales may have developed before and after the time of Beroul.  Of Beroul himself, nothing is known, except that his poem dates from about the middle of the twelfth century.

The introduction is more detailed reading than the stories themselves, but I do recommend it for background.  The opening and closing sections of Beroul are lost, so this book offers a summary based on a reconstructed narrative from another scholar.  The translation of Beroul's work begins with The Tryst Under the Tree, and from that point it reads like a simple chapter book, although not all of it is suitable for children.  I found it a quick and interesting read - almost like a cheap romance from medieval times.