Title: The Grail Theme in Twentieth-Century Literature
Source: Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 142. Detroit:
Gale, 2003. From Literature Resource Center.
Document Type: Topic overview, Critical essay
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Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale, COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale, Cengage Learning
Introduction
Representative Works
Further Readings about the Topic
REPRESENTATIVE WORKS:
Thomas Berger

Arthur Rex (novel) 1978
Joseph Conrad

Chance (novel) 1913
T. S. Eliot

The Waste Land (poetry) 1922
F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby (novel) 1925
Parke Godwin

Firelord (novel) 1980
Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises (novel) 1926
Jim Hunter

Percival and the Presence of God (novel) 1978
James Joyce

Ulysses (novel) 1922
Ken Kesey

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (novel) 1962
C. S. Lewis

Arthurian Torso (novel) 1938

The Hideous Strength (novel) 1945
Arthur Machen

The Great Return (novel) 1915
Naomi Mitchison

To the Chapel Perilous (novel) 1955
Walker Percy

Lancelot (novel) 1963
Jack Spicer

The Holy Grail (novel) 1962
Alfred Tennyson

Idylls of the King (poetry) 1859
Charles Williams

War in Heaven (novel) 1930

Taliessen Through Logres (poetry) 1938
Introduction
The legend of the Grail and the quest to locate it has been one of the most consistent
motifs throughout Western literature. One of the earliest recorded instances of the legend
itself was in Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval ou Le conte du Graal (c. 1190), which
depicted the Grail as a chalice or vessel that was present during the Last Supper and later
used to collect Jesus Christ's blood after his crucifixion. Though there are numerous
interpretations and theories regarding the origin of the myth and the vessel, in its most
basic form, the story of the Grail revolves around a quest for an object that sustains life.
In most versions of the legend, the Grail is extremely difficult to find--hidden in a
desolate castle, surrounded by barren land, and guarded by an ailing owner. The myth
holds that the power of the Grail can only be restored if the questing knight is able to find
the castle and ask the right question of its owner. Failure at any time during this journey
implies a failure of the quest, which must then begin anew. The knight who succeeds in
his quest becomes the new guardian of the castle and the Grail, replacing the previous
caretaker, often referred to as the Fisher King. Although the legend is fundamentally
connected to Christian beliefs and mythology, literary interpretations of the story have
treated the Grail as both a secular and religious symbol. The most common association of
the Grail quest in literature is with Arthurian legends, but scholars acknowledge that the
concept of the Grail existed in Western mythology long before the tales of King Arthur
and his Round Table were created.
Twentieth-century authors, in particular, have utilized the Grail legend in both realistic
and fantasy fiction, notably in stories that revolve around time travel or the struggle
between good and evil. One variation on the Grail myth--largely introduced by twentiethcentury authors--has been the focus on characters that attempt to steal the Grail for their
own purposes. Such selfish motivations are held in stark contrast to the traditional role of
the Grail in literature, where the vessel is a holy talisman, representative of an
individual's journey towards spiritual growth and enlightenment. In other works, the Grail
appears as a representation of the disparity between the material and spiritual worlds. For
example, in Arthur Machen's The Great Return (1915), the Grail serves as an inspiration
to better oneself, while in T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land (1922), the legend provides
thematic unity to a poem that laments the futility of contemporary life. Critic Raymond
H. Thompson has noted that the Grail theme is frequently utilized in works that highlight
the condition of the human heart or an individual's attempts to reach beyond the material
world. As such, works like The Waste Land use the typically barren landscapes of the
Grail quest as a contrasting backdrop to their characters's search for spiritual fulfillment
in modern society.
Though it remains a significant thematic and allegorical device in twentieth-century
literature, the Grail legend continues to be most often associated with contemporary
reinterpretations of classic Arthurian legends. Charles Williams composed one of the first
major poetic treatments of the Grail legend in the twentieth century, Taliessen through
Logres (1938), and outlined the story of King Arthur and the Grail in several of his
works. Other authors, such as Walker Percy, have employed the Grail as an ironic device.
In Lancelot (1963) Percy adopts the form of the Grail quest as a paradigm for the
Southern code of Stoicism in face of defeat. Barbara Tepa Lupack has argued that several
twentieth-century novelists, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, among
others, have successfully reinterpreted the Grail quest in atypical forms, employing the
symbolism of the Grail in their works and personal lives. In the latter half of the twentieth
century, the Grail legend continued to inspire such authors as Michael Ondaatje and
Bobbie Ann Mason, both of whom have merged the traditional myth with modern-day
imagery and cultural concerns. The Grail also continues to be a significant source of
material and metaphor in contemporary works of science fiction and fantasy, particularly
in the works of Neil Gaiman, S. P. Sumtow, and Tanith Lee.
FURTHER READINGS ABOUT THE TOPIC
CRITICISM

Abdoo, Sherlyn. "Woman as Grail in T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland." Centennial
Review 28, no. 1 (winter 1984): 48-60.
Explores the image of woman as being the very object of the Grail quest in T. S.
Eliot's The Waste Land.

Cleeve, Brian. "The World's Need." In At the Table of the Grail: Magic and the
Use of Imagination, edited by John Matthews, pp. 129-44. London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1984.
Debates the nature of the Grail, contending that the Grail serves humans only as
they serve the Grail.

Cormier, Raymond J. "Rohmer's Grail Story: Anatomy of a French Flop."
Stanford French Review 5, no. 3 (winter 1981): 391-96.
Offers an account of Sax Rohmer's treatment of the Grail legend in his film
Perceval and the Grail.

Fledderus, Bill. "'The English Patient Reposed in His Bed Like a [Fisher] King':
Elements of Grail Romance in Ondaatje's The English Patient." Studies in
Canadian Literature 22, no. 1 (1997): 19-54.
Maintains that Ondaatje's novel is informed by the work of Jessie Weston in the
field of romance criticism, and that there are many covert references to the Grail
legend in this story that assist in developing an increased sense of aesthetic and
critical judgement of this work.

Froula, Christine. "Eliot's Grail Quest, or The Lover, the Police, and The Waste
Land." Yale Review 78, no. 2 (winter 1989): 235-53.
Examines the Grail motif in The Waste Land as a reflection of T. S. Eliot's own
struggle with his sexuality, noting that the poem was reflective of a failed quest
toward female identification.

Goldfarb, Clare. "An Archetypal Reading of The Golden Bowl: Maggie Verver as
Questor." American Literary Realism 14, no. 1 (spring 1981): 52-61.
Interprets the character of Maggie Verver as a Questor whose primary mission in
the book becomes a search for the identity of her father instead of a meaningful
relationship with her husband.

Hoffman, Donald L. "A Darker Shade of Grail: Questing at the Crossroads in
Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo." Callaloo 17, no. 4 (fall 1994): 1245-56.
Claims that in his novel Mumbo Jumbo, often praised as one of Ishmael Reed's
greatest works, the author revisions the Grail legend in order to redefine Eurocentric interpretations of myth and civilization.

Pierce, Carol. "A Fellowship in Time: Durrell, Eliot, and the Quest of the Grail."
In Lawrence Durrell: Comprehending the Whole, edited by Julius Rowan Raper,
Melody L. Enscore, and Paige Matthey Bynum, pp. 70-81. Columbia: University
of Missouri Press, 1995.
Compares the influence Lawerence Durrell and T. S. Eliot had on each other as
writers, focusing on the impact Eliot's The Waste Land and his use of the Grail
myth in that work had on Durrell's writing.

Riley, Peter. "The Narratives of The Holy Grail." boundary 2 6, no. 1 (fall 1977):
163-90.
Detailed overview of Jack Spicer's The Holy Grail.

Stich, Klaus P. "The Grail Is a Rum Thing: Robertson Davies' Cornish Trilogy."
Canadian Literature 164 (spring 2000): 116-35.
Studies Robertson Davies's notion of the Grail as it is represented in his Cornish
trilogy, characterizing it as an "over-all presence" in all three books.
Source Citation: "The Grail Theme in Twentieth-Century Literature." TwentiethCentury Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 142. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature
Resource Center. Gale. LODI HIGH SCHOOL. 25 Jan. 2009
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