Le mythe du Graal à la lumière de Babel : la parole dans la Queste del Saint Graal et l`Estoire del Saint Graal

摘要

The literary myth of the Grail, created by Chrétien de Troyes, has common roots with thecosmological myth of Babel which explains the plurality of languages. Can we consider themyth of the Grail as a myth of a language lost, sought and finally regained? The adventure of evangelism in Estoire del Saint Grail and the Holy Grail in the Queste, inspired by theCrusades and the Franciscan missions, converge in a dynamic unity symbolized by the Grail,which prevents language . They tend to gather materials of a primordial chaos created underthe aegis of Babel. Chaos, and fragmentation of speech are followed by a unifying voice of aunique origin that orders the world by giving it a meaning. This unification of the speech: aunique speech, God’s speech, for one mouth, that of the Christian people, follows a pattern opposite to Babel. The Estoire does not track the dispersal of a damned people but represents the archetype of a well-managed exodus of a chosen people whose purpose is not to defy butto serve God ; Therefore God grants His people the privilege and the power of words. In the Queste, the beginning of the adventures of the knights of the round table on the day of Pentecost recalls the post-Babel reconciliation offered to the apostles in order to spread thegood word. Pentecost inaugurates the start of the quest for the Holy Grail and also theintroduction of a new voice, the voice of God’s messenger. From the beginning of the story,this new voice as a sign of mystical orientation, destroys any courtly legacy.