This was a first for me: the first time I've read one of the famous medieval tales. I think it a silly thing to review this book based on how much I enjoyed the story, because I think it's not about that. This is an ancient classic tale: gotta love it! And I did.
As I'm not a student of Middle English literature nor an expert on it I cannot and should not judge this translation. I'm not equipped for that and I leave that to the lucky ones that have studied hard on this topic.

I thoroughly enjoyed both the tale itself and all the good stuff in the introduction and notes section. I learned a lot from the extra info there and I wished there was more of that good stuff in the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

im getting this agrégation guys

Sorprèn sobretot perquè malgrat saber que és una història escrita a l’edat mitjana, continua funcionant prou bé com a trama i història en general. Es nota la influència que va tenir en Tolkien i en tota la fantasia èpica que va venir després.

From BBC radio 4:
Set in Arthurian Britain at Christmas time with the knights of the Round Table, whose festivities at Camelot are disrupted by the appearance of a green knight.

The stranger has come to lay down a challenge - a test of courage and heart which Sir Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, accepts.

Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage's translation of the medieval verse romance is narrated by Ian McKellen.

Sir Gawain ...... Samuel West
The Green Knight/Sir Bertilak ...... David Fleeshman
Bertilak's wife ...... Deborah McAndrew
Arthur/Servant ...... Conrad Nelson

With specially composed music by Gary Yershon.

Producer: Susan Roberts

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007...

You like tales of King Arthur, yes? Perhaps, like me, you tried to read Morte D'Arthur and it didn't go so well. Try this instead. It's only about 100 pages long, it's in cool alliterative verse, and it paces well. There's nothing superfluous in the text. Gawain is a good sort of guy, only slightly boring. The Green Knight has one of the best entrances in literature.

As a bonus, try to imagine Don Quixote reading this book and acting it out. Drink some wine. You've got yourself an entertaining evening.

Update: Read again! This time the Norton Critical edition edited and translated by Marie Borroff. It went for a more archaic feel than the O’Donoghue that replicates the high language of the Middle English. Plus, this edition includes a lot of useful and insightful supplementary essays. Recommended for the student interested in the wider context of Arthurian and/or 14th century literature.

Note: Read the Penguin edition translated by Bernard O'Donoghue

Super-duper worried for the cute talking fox in the trailer for The Green Knight. Godspeed, Reynard!

O'Donoghue's translation balances fidelity and readability well, with helpful explanatory end notes for some trickier lines. It's nice and lean - pretty just the poem, an intro, and a few notes. Nice if you just want a short text of the poem with no extra frills.

Read for class

What a treat! Simon Armitage's lyrical translation of this 600-year-old medieval English poem begs to be read aloud. Bill Wallis was an inspired choice; his gruff but warm reading perfectly suits both the soaring alliteration and the more rustic, colloquial moments of the story. (His northern accent lent a special authenticity to the performance; the poem was composed in a Northwest Midlands dialect.)

Armitage's rendering of the poem sacrifices literal translation for the sake of preserving alliteration and rhyme. The result is a musical cascade that carries the reader effortlessly through the tale. The story itself is almost a satire of chivalric ideals; how can a mere man, however noble and well-intentioned, aspire to perfection? Not to mention the impossibility, as Gawain's seductress shows him, of remaining both chaste and perfectly courteous? (Suitably, Gawain, the would-be perfect knight, is far harder on himself when confronted with his failings than anyone else, including his adversary.)

As an added bonus, Wallis reads the original Middle English poem as well. It is fascinating to listen to; some lines are perfectly understandable, while others sound like some weird, lost Germanic language.

Wow. AMAZINGLY ALLITERATIVE LINES LAYERED WITH LOVELY LANGUAGE!
I thoroughly enjoyed analysing it. Everything was so brilliantly connected and the storyline had twists and turns galore! It had morals, alliteration, brilliant Bob-and-wheels (so there was rhyme but not excessive rhyme), a wonderfully varied pace and just general excitement and epiphanies!!!!!
The narrative is gripping and a real page-turner!!!
Entertaining, suspenseful and descriptive all rolled into one!
I felt second-hand embarrassment AND mudita because it’s just so vivid! What’s that you said about books not being as lifelike as movies? No? My imagination? Thought so.

Kind of what you'd expect from a 14th century chivalric text. Quite enjoyable, but not amazing.

For there the festival lasted a whole fifteen days
With all the feasting and merrymaking that could be devised;
Such sounds of revelry splendid to hear,
Days full of uproar, dancing at night.
Everywhere joy resounded in chambers and halls
...
When New Year was so fresh that it had hardly begun,
Double helpings of food were served on the dais that day.

Home for the holidays, and scarcely time to read. But Sir Gawain offers all this, and an emerald green antagonist.

I know this is a basic English major text, but I loved this so much. Apparently, this is the first appearance of red + green + white as Christmas colors! The seduction as hunt, the Pagan and Christian tensions, learning about the motif of the Green Man throughout history... I'm realising that this is more of a review of my class than this text, but they're inextricable for me.

Taking this medieval literature class has been one of the best decisions I've made this year. If I had been born 50 years ago, I would probably want to be a medievalist––this literary tradition is fascinating. It feels like there's some incredible kernel of truth in everything we read, and it's crazy to see how the texts we're studying have already influenced my way of understanding the world so much (often by way of consuming other texts and media they've influenced). Really great essays in this edition too––especially the one about violence as courtly play by Martin.