From the Last Supper to the Arthurian Feast: "Translatio" and the Round Table

Abstract

The medieval concept of writing was one of active rewriting; as Michelle Freeman has so aptly stated, Each romance, instead of being merely a reperformance of a model or paradigm, constitutes a link in a chain of texts-a textuality-that absorbs and rearticulates its predecessors together with articulating a reading or an interpretation of them.' Authors were often conscious of their participation in this chain of textuality, or translatio, to use their own terminology: many cite their sources, and some-such as Marie de France and Chr6tien de Troyescomment even further about the process of rewriting.2 Of course, not all authors were as self-conscious about their roles in textual production as Marie and Chr6tien. Some, who may not have commented directly on their participation in translatio, did so indirectly through images and structures that thematize the process. Robert de Boron's rewriting of the grail material exemplifies such subtle theorizing. His text's table imagery reflects the medieval process of literary production, and thus illustrates how the author perceived his work. In this note, I will examine Robert's table imagery as a self-conscious literary construct and will explore the Vulgate Cycle's translation of that imagery. An analysis of the structure of the Roman de l'estoire dou Graal (henceforth Graal) suggests that Robert is aware of his engagement in a chain of textuality and that by thematizing this he implicitly acknowledges