Tristan: With the Surviving Fragments of the 'Tristran of Thomas' (Penguin Classics)

If all the medieval scholars in the world were asked to name the definitive version of the Tristan story, it's a sure bet a majority would point to the work of Gottfried Von Strassburg. Though Gottfried certainly did not create the Tristan saga itself, working as he was from an earlier poem by Thomas of Britain (and Thomas wasn't the first storyteller to take up Tristan's tale either), Gottfried's personal touches and a surgeon's eye for the pscyhological underpinnings of the cursed love affair between the knight Tristan and his Queen Isolde allowed him to make the existing story his own. Grand in conception and rich in detail, Gottfried's TRISTAN has for eight centuries delighted general readers and scholars alike and has been wildly influential, inspiring countless other writers and artists to produce their own take on an immortal legend. Ironically, Gottfried's opus isn't even complete--it breaks off shortly after Tristan meets Isolde of the White Hands. Providentially, Thomas's TRISTRAN picks up where Gottfried, for whatever reason, leaves off, so that an essentially complete story is in fact available, albeit by two writers of rather different styles. Also, it should be noted that neither Gottfried nor Thomas put Tristan at King Arthur's Round Table, as many other authors frequently do.Penguin Classics are of uniformly high quality, and this book is no exception. The translation is by renowned medieval scholar A.T. Hatto, with an excellent introduction, helpful notes, and a number of supplemental pieces including glossaries of geographical and character names from the text for enhanced readability.Is Gottfried's TRISTAN truly the best? Of course that is always going to be debatable. To be fair, Joseph Bedier's version is more concise and in some ways more readable, while Thomas Malory's BOOK OF SIR TRISTRAM puts Tristan in his more familiar setting as a pre-eminent knight of the Round Table. Regardless, Gottfried's romance is a justly immortal masterpiece of rare quality. Given the story's literary triumphs of style and substance alike, combined with a legacy of ongoing influence upon other writers worldwide, anything less than a five-star rating is impossible.

Around the middle of the 12th century, an author we know only as Thomas wrote a French version of the popular legend of the star-crossed lovers Tristan and Ysolt (usually known in English as Tristram and Yseult). Thomas may have been French or English. Most of his poem has been lost. A generation or two later (the dates for both authors are uncertain) a Strassburger named Gottfried wrote a German version of the story, using Thomas as his source. Gottfried died before completing the work. By extraordinary coincidence, the bulk of what remains of Thomas's work is the very part that Gottfried did not live to write. Thomas carries on exactly where Gottfried leaves off. The obvious thing therefore, is to translate Gottfried and Thomas in one volume, to give a complete narrative. That's what Hatto does, in his usual accurate, precise and elegant English, in this excellent Penguin Classics edition.Hatto's editorial contributions, consisting of an Introduction and 7 Appendices, give as much information as most readers will require. One can sense the effort of will Hatto needed, to stop himself writing volumes more.So how good a story is it? Well, it's a classic romance, from a time when sexual relations were being redefined, and which has provided inspiration for countless other romances since, most notably Romeo and Juliet. It does not read like a modern novel, for the very good reason that it isn't one. It is a medieval German poem translated into modern English prose, so much of the underlying social logic, and many of the aesthetics, will inevitably be lost to us. But it does contain some very memorable moments and it stands as an important milestone on the progress of western literature, and as an invaluable insight into European medieval culture.

I wish I could get every romantic idealist I know to read this book. It's the core stuff of romantic obsession... and if you haven't studied the subject in depth, it's probably not what you thought it would be! Much like many relationships in modern days that are unknowingly based on this myth -- replayed, as it is, in countless novels, tv stories, movies and even tv news reports -- this story holds surprises that should no longer be surprising. But that is the stuff, as Joseph Campbell would have said, of living Myth -- it is not living unless it is believed, not as myth, but as fact.This book should be taught in every high school. Not likely, though. It is so fundamental to modern mythical thinking, it is virtually taboo.Highly recommended.

Forget Lancelot and Guenivere, Tristan and Isolde are the original Romeo and Juliet!Gottfried caries on the romatic tradition and creates a love tringle between Isolde, Tristan, and King Marke. The legend of the doomed lovers unfolds in the classic tradition that ends (albeit abruptly) in tragedy. Gottfried's poem is unfinished but the book also contains the translation of Thomas' "Tristan" as well.The book omits the connection to the Court of King Arthur but it does not detract from the legend. This book is closer to Beroul's Tristan and the 2006 movie staring Franco, Myles, and Sewell rather than the 15th century "Le Morte D'Arthur" by Malory. I recommend this version of the tale over all the others I've read!

Incredible book ! should be made into a movie.