Product Description

One of the great romances of the Middle Ages, Tristan, written in the early thirteenth century, is based on a medieval love story of grand passion and deceit. By slaying a dragon, the young prince Tristan wins the beautiful Isolde’s hand in marriage for his uncle, King Mark. On their journey back to Mark’s court, however, the pair mistakenly drink a love-potion intended for the king and his young bride, and are instantly possessed with an all-consuming love for each another - a love they are compelled to conceal by a series of subterfuges that culminates in tragedy. Von Strassburg’s work is acknowledged as the greatest rendering of this legend of medieval lovers, and went on to influence generations of writers and artists and inspire Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #102711 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-01
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

About the Author
Gottfried von Strassburg was probably a member of the urban patriciate in Strassburg. Judging from his writing he appears to have been a cultured man, well read in Latin, French and German; a lover of music and hunting, and a skilled linguistic stylist. He chose Thomas as his source for Tristan, and completed five-sixths of the work. A.T. Hatto has translated The Niebelungenlied and Eschenbach's Parzival for Penguin Classics.

Customer Reviews

A great edition of a seminal work of literature
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.