The sonority of the Grail
This study takes a look at Nature, at the narrative and philosophical effects and stakes of sounds -or the absence of sounds- which, in the novels of the Grail of the Middle Age, follow the appearances of this subject. In Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, The Story of the Grail, what is significant is not the silence of the Grail, but the silence of Perceval. From this first silent episode, which connects the narration to a sin of character, are followed scenes, in the novels in verse that aspire to complete the narration, as well as in the prose novels of the 13th century, where the vision of the Grail is associated to the topic of noises and voices, to the themes of songs and music, or even to a silence which is no longer the consequence of a fault, but a sign of plenitude, of grace, and of an harmony that “the tongue cannot say, nor the heart imagine.” From Perceval's guilty silence, to the silence of the divine grace, ineffable mystical experience, the Grail scenes carried the characters a long way to internalize this trial, and to allow their hearts to hear the resonance of the voice of the real presence. As a quest for divine grace, the quest of the Grail leads the devotee of a sensory experience to a bliss in Deo, to the unity with the uncreated Breath, Verb which exceeds all intelligence. An itinerary towards God is the path towards silence.