Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
A cura di J.R.R. Tolkien e E.V. Gordon.
1°
ed. 2° rist. 1930
Oxford
University Press, Londra
Frontespizio
The Lady of the Castle visits Sir Gawain
Rilegato con sovraccoperta (assente in questa edizione)
Note
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight è un'edizione
critica del romanzo Medio inglese. Tolkien era il responsabile per il glossario
e per il testo del poema, mentre Gordon ha prodotto la maggior parte delle note
di accompagnamento.
Questa edizione, al contrario di quella del 1946
(qui), sulla copertina presenta ornamenti color oro.
Sir Gawain e il Cavaliere Verde o Sir Galvano e il
Cavaliere Verde è un romanzo allitterativo scritto in medio inglese e risalente
al tardo XIV secolo narrante un'avventura di Galvano, un cavaliere appartenente
alla Tavola Rotonda. In questo racconto Galvano accetta la sfida lanciata da un
misterioso cavaliere completamente verde nei capelli, vestiti e pelle. Il
Cavaliere Verde dichiara che permetterà a chiunque di infliggergli un colpo di
ascia senza che esso si difenda se egli stesso potrà restituire il colpo
esattamente dopo un anno e un giorno. Gawain accetta la sfida e con un sol
colpo decapita lo sfidante, questi non muore ma raccoglie la sua testa, balza a
cavallo e rimembra a Galvano che gli deve soddisfazione alla data concordata.
La storia di Sir Galvano, impegnato nell'avventuroso viaggio per raggiungere il
luogo prescelto ove riceverà il colpo, dimostra il suo spirito di cavalleria e
lealtà.
Tolkien era responsabile per il glossario e per il
testo del poema, mentre Gordon ha prodotto la maggior parte delle note di
accompagnamento.
Seconda edizione corretta. I bordi delle pagine non
sono tagliate. Gli ornamenti, titoli e autori sono in oro. I riferimenti sono
presenti sul dorso della rilegatura.
Preface
The
first endeavour of this edition has been to provide the student with a text
which, treating the unique manuscript with all due respect, is yet pleasant for
the modern reader to look at, and is free (as are few Middle English texts)
from a litter of italics, asterisks, and brackets, the trail of the passing
editor.
The
second has been to provide a sufficient apparatus for reading this remarkable
poem with an appreciation as far as possible of the sort which its author may
be supposed to have desired. Much of the literature that begins to gather about
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, though not without interest, has little
bearing on this object, and many of the theories held, or questions asked,
about the poem have here been passed over or lightly handled – the nature and
significance of the ‘test’; the sources, near and remote, of the story’s
elements and details; the identity, character, life, and other writings of the
author (who remains unknown); his immediate motive in writing this romance; and
so on.
On
the other hand, the more linguistic part of the apparatus, which is principally
directed towards determining, as precisely as possible, the meaning of the
author’s actual words (in so far as the manuscript is fair to him), is in
proportion more extensive. The glossary, for instance, bulks unusually large. But
to a certain extent the author has made this inevitable. While a full glossary
is still essential for students of any Middle English text that merits a close
and scholarly attention, the vocabulary and idiom of Sir Gawain deserve as much
as even Chaucer’s best work (which has not received it) a full and careful
analysis – one even fuller and more careful than has here been possible. The language
is idiomatic, and the vocabulary rich. There are approximately(1) as many
distinct individual words as there are lines in the poem: a new word for every
line.
Our
thanks are due to Mr. J.F. Sharpe for his kindness in answering questions concerning
the geography of line ìs 696-700; to Mr. C.T. Onions for his help on several
points, and for his constant interest; to Mr. K. Sisam for personal advice and
help; to Sir Walter Napier for the loan of the late Professor Napier’s notes. The
general debt of a pupil, still freshly remembering Napier’s skill in the
elucidation of the difficult language of the poems of this manuscript, is thus
greatly increased. Though not much of the present edition is derived directly
from this source, it is noteworthy that many of the suggestions made independently
by others are there found anticipated but unpulished.
J.R.R.T.
E.V.G.
(1)
Words about 2690; line 2530
