The Krater and the Grail: Hermetic Sources of the "Parzival" by Henry Kahane; Renée Kahane

Review by: Ernst S. Dick

The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 52, No. 3 (Mar., 1968), pp. 179-181
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations
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 BOOK REVIEWS 179

infrastructure (p. 52),immode, sucetteandtraficd'armes (all, --arenotcommonly favored today,although theyhaveall

p. 141),refiler (79),fermage andcas deconscience (both,p. beenfruitfully appliedinprevious generations;thegenetic
81). Theseoversights might proveto be a stumbling block, approache.g. in the brilliant studyof JessieL. Weston
particularly difficultnotionslikeinfrastructure and cas de (FromRitualto Romance);the etymological methodes-
conscience. Moreover,cognates(whether faux or vrais), peciallyin theclarification ofproper names;andtheliteral
alongwiththe1300wordsofLe Francaisfondamental (ler one by all scholarswho refusedto adopt the skeptical
Degrd),are likewise omitted.Often,one of the footnotes attituderegarding thereliability ofWolfram's statements
(theyareinFrench)willsendthestudent tothevocabulary abouthis allegedmediator Kyot,nowsharedby thema-
afteryetanother word. jorityof Parzivalscholars.Although someof theseap-
Although nowsuitableonlyforadvancedstudents, this proachesarenotheldin greatesteemat thepresent time,
collectionwouldfind, ifequipped withan improved vocabu- theyshouldbe recognized as basicallysolidand perfectly
lary,additional readersamongsophomores contemplatinglegimate ifpursuedin truescholarly fashion.Theyshould
a thirdyearabroad.In thiscasetheinstructor might want be especially appreciated as a welcome challengeto meth-
to enrichclassdiscussion withthephotographs originally odological complacency whenit requires courageto follow
reproduced in R alitisand replacedhereby onesbetter up a lineof argument regardless of themarketvalueof
suitedto reproduction on a smallpage. specificmethods.It the booknevertheless seemsto fall
ANTHONY M. BEICHMAN shortofwhatitpromises, andifthereaderfailsto be con-
University ofNorthCarolina vincedat the end that Parzival,alongwithChritien's
Perceval,is fundamentally an example ofconversion litera-
KAHANE, HENRY AND RENEE, in collaboration ture,it is notdueto themethods norto a lackof
with Angelina Pietrangeli.The Krater and applied
the Grail: HermeticSources of the "Parzival." learningin general.It ratherresultsfromthe exclusive
concentration ontheHermetic materials andthedeliberate
Illinois Studies in Language and Literature, of almostall otherpossiblesourcesof the Grail
Volume 56. Urbana: Universityof Illinois neglect
storyaccumulated overgenerations.
Press, 1965. Pp. xi+218, with 64 plates. The systematic presentation oftheHermetic hypothesis
$7.50, cloth; $6.50, paper. is dividedintothreemajorchapters: "TheStoryofa Myst"
In thelongchainofattempts tosolvethemystery ofthe -"The Transmission"-"Wolfram's Hermetism."The
Grail,especially ofitsorigin, thislateststudyis notonly first one-themostdecisive one,sinceithastoprovidethe
one ofthemostfascinating contributionsin recentyears, textualfoundation fortheentireconstruction-is a com-
but also the mostproblematic and challenging one. The parativeanalysisofthereligious development oftheepic
authors claimtoprovide an esoterickeyforthewholework. heroand theHermetic aspirant. Numerous passagesfrom
Its application yieldsnumerous newobservations on indi- theParzivaltextare quotedto demonstrate theparallels
vidualpassages,actionsand characters as wellas on the between thetwopatterns andto underscore theanalogous
intellectual background. However,thepricepaid forthe progress fromagnosy(zwivel)to gnosis(heil,sael),from
richesopenedupbythiskeyis high,foritsrather inflexible darkness to light,fromtest,failure, and confusionto reve-
use has also placedthisbookamongthemostone-sided lation,initiation, and rebirth. The parallelsare mostlyin
worksinParzivalscholarship. the categoryof descriptive passagesrelatedto religious
The basic hypothesis proposedby the authors:Wol- actionsand doctrines. But theyalso includeetymological
fram'sParzivalis builtaroundan "Urparzival" composed equivalentsand correspondences in the major figures.
ofreligious elements from theCorpus Hermeticum (a collec- "The Storyofa Myst"startsoutwitha disposition of
tionoftreatises containing theessentialdoctrines ofHer- the basic constituents of the secretcommunity and its
metism, a Hellenistic mystery ofEgyptianprove- beliefs,
religion pointing outparallelsin Parzivalforeachofthem.
nance).The religious actionas a whole,withitsfocuson This is, to be sure,a verylogicalwayof introducing the
the Urparzival, is regarded as a faithfuladaptation ofthe readerto theheartofthematter.But sincetheanalogies
Hermetic tradition through thetwelfth century, including are,almostofnecessity, drawnat randomfromall parts
its variousmodifications and additions. The coreofWol- oftherespective texts,andusuallyproveto be ofa rather
fram's epic,theGrailstory, appearsas a poetictransforma-generalnature,it hardlyfailsto arousethecriticalreader
tionof thecentralHermetic theKratertext.In to challenge
treatise, thevalidityofthewholeapproachbeforehe
fact,the Grailitselfis identified withthe Krater,the has becomeacquaintedwithbetterevidence.What,for
Hermetic symbol ofgnosisandthepre-eminent cultobject example, is provenbylisting suchqualitiesofGodas "not
of the secretsociety,used amongothersas a baptismal anthropomorphic," "infinite," "mysterious," "immutable,"
vessel.Hencethetitle,whichimpliesa virtually newand or,"God is light,"is "truth,"and "thecarrier ofintellec-
highly original solution oftheGrailproblem. tual principles"(pp. 8-13)? Could God, in almostany
Apartfromthismostcrucialproblem,a numberof medieval text,be anything butallthis?Thus,theHermetic
relatedissuesare dauntlessly attacked.Amongthe ten argument presents itselffromtheweakestside,especially
itemslistedbytheauthorstherearesuchpuzzling onesas sincesomeoftheparallels arenotnearlyas closeas desired.
the figure of Kyotand his mysterious sources,and such Mostreaders willmaintain theirskepticalattitude when
basiconesas theconcepts ofzwivel andtriuwe. Yet,while theyproceedto the paragraphs on "baptism,"on "the
thelistofproblems keepswithintheboundsoftraditional food-giving vessel,""thestone,""the femalemembers,"
Parzivalscholarship, the methodsemployed in theirat- "procreation" (pp. 18-25),orto certain partsdealingwith
tempted solution-(1)genetic;(2) etymological; (3) literal the individual phasesof the aspirant'sprogress, suchas

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180 BOOK REVIEWS
"The New Road" (pp. 54-55), or "When evening had
come... " (pp. 73-74), or "Knowledge of God" (pp. 80-
84). Even ifwe make generousallowanceforpoeticlicense,
the textualbasis in thesespecificcases is simplytoo thinfor
an equation of Parzival elementswith the constituentsof
Hermetism.Sometimes the feature in common is even
transplantedfroma different context.
Thus the discussionof baptism as a prerequisitefor
membershipin the brotherhoodobscures its lack in the
Parzival story by substitutingthe baptism of Feirefiz
(howeverrevealingthisact may be in its own right).Like-
wise the lack ofevidenceforthe Grail as a baptismalvessel
is remediedby the emanationof baptismalwaterfromthe
Grail in the same instance.In the treatmentof the "food-
giving vessel" it is neither established that Wolfram's
Grail is a vessel nor that the Krater is endowedwith the
magic propertyof providingfood. Instead, the gnostic
passages quoted merelyreferto food as a "divine nourish-
ment of the mind" (p. 20) and to drinkingin a spiritual
sense, and this only in a ratherloose connectionwith the
Krater.-The "stone" featureof the Grail is conveniently
reducedto a metaphoron account of the metaphoricuse
of the loadstone in the Krater treatisedescribingthe at-
tractionof God's image forthe initiate.
And so one could go on: The functionsof the female
membersand of procreationare essentiallydifferent in the
two secretcommunities.The metaphorof the "new road"
or, the road to God of the Hermetica,is hardlyused sym-
bolicallyin theParzivalpassagesquoted-besides theimage
is so commonin earlyChristiantradition,so widespreadin
Medieval literaturethat its use would not reveal any de-
pendenceon a specificsource. If the day of Hermeticin-
doctrinationends witha prayerand a vegetarianmeal,we
are impressedwith the analogy in Chr6tien,but when it
comes to Parzival where "sleep alone is the terminalfea-
ture" (p. 74), one can hardlyhelp being slightlyamused.
Finally,the postulationsregardingthe Knowledgeof God,
achieved in Hermetismeitherthroughecstasisor through
baptism,are so astonishingthat the criticis about to lose
his patience-neitherdoes Parzival undergoa special bap-
tismal procedure in his spiritual developmentnor is it
permissibleto credit him with an ecstatic experienceat
the end of his journey.
The enumerationof weaknessesin the presentationof
parallelsprovides,however,hardlysufficient authorization
to rejectthe hypothesisas a whole.It mustbe pointedout
that the systematiccomparisonalso yieldsresultsthat are
intriguingand hard to explain otherwise.If we may still
disregardfeatureslike "immortality"(Titural,Amfortas),
or the presenceof nous in the eucharisticdove, and cer-
tainlythe use of the phoenixas a symbolof regeneration--
all quite compatiblewithothergenetictheories-we cannot
ignorethe strikingcorrespondences in such puzzlingcases
as the astral complexof the Grail or the orderof the Grail
procession.If one followsthe authorsin theirassumptionof
thecelestialoriginofthe GrailregardlessofRanke's famous
and well-arguedrejectionof thispopular theory,the Grail
could be linkedwiththe gnostictraditionof astral vessels,
to which also the Hermetic Krater belongs. Even more
importantperhapsis Wolfram'sderivationof the name of
the Grailfromthestars(454, 21-23), whichseemsto reflect
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the doctrineof Macrobius relating Crater as vessel to
Crateras the constellation.Similarly,the veryneat inter-
pretationof the numericalproportionsin the Grail proces-
sion suggestscertainties withHermeticthought,although
the values assigned to the individual numbers are not
deriveddirectlyfromtheHermetica. The orderofthevirgins
can be expressedby the formula4+8+12+1=25. Each
of the subgroupscorrespondsto a cosmicconcept,the total
of 25 signifying the completionof a cosmic journey,"the
soul's journeytowardthe Monad" (p. 101), afterpassing
thestationsofthefourelements,the eightspheresofplanets
and fixedstars,and the twelvesignsof the zodiac. Even if
one missesthedirectrelationto Parzival's spiritualjourney,
it remainsa beautifulilluminationof the secretsof the
Grail community.
Anothertype of comparisonis engaged in findingthe
prototypesof Wolfram'smajor charactersin the Hermetic
tradition.Corresponding figuresare especiallyproposedfor
Parzival and Feirefiz,forTitureland Trevrizent,forKyot
and Flegetanis;not, however,forAmfortasor the female
members of the Grail family. Wherever possible, the
authors support the relationshipwith etymologicalevi-
dence. Parzival is comparedto the HermeticdiscipleTat.
Feirefizassumes the role of the secondarymyst,assigned
in the Hermeticato Hammon,likewisean Africanking.His
blood relationshipwith Parzival would reflecta spiritual
brotherhood. Probablythe mostintriguing prototypeis the
one offered forTrevrizent,the centraland semi-divineper-
sonage of the Hermetic treatises,Hermes Trismegistos
himself.Apart fromtheircommonfunctionas representa-
tives of esotericwisdom and initiatorsof the myst,they
even seem to share theirveryname: Trevrizent is derived
fromOFr. TrebleEscient<Med. Lat. triplexscientia,a term
used to characterizethe philosophyof Hermes Trismegis-
tos, the 'Thrice-Greatest' (and Thrice-Wisest). But if
Trevrizentis picturedas Hermeticmystagogue,why does
he actuallydiscourageParzival frompursuingthe quest of
the Grail? And when later Flegetanis is introducedas a
second Hermes figure,as "Hermes the author" beside
"Hermes the actor" (p. 118), the appeal of the theoryis
hardlyenhanced.But it can, in our judgment,still claim
farmoreprobabilitythan the equation Titurel= Kronos=
Hermeticecstatic(pp. 35-37).
Of the etymologiespresentedin this volume,the most
momentousone, the derivationof gralfromGrk. KpaTrp
[krat&r](via Lat. cratera,with suffixchange: cratdlis)was
already published in Zeitschrift ftir deutschesAltertum
(1959). It is formallydebatablebut in myopinionnot quite
as acceptable as the more common ones operatingwith
*cratdlis "bowl"<crdtis "basket," or with Med. Lat.
graddlis"gradedvessel" (in whichthefoodwas arrangedin
steps). Next in importanceis a new explanationof the
defiantlapsit exillis crux. The authorsadopt the familiar
readinglapis exilis and associate exilis with the 'paltry'
appearance of the magnetstone. This is of course subject
to the same objectionas the exploitationof the loadstone
metaphorbefore.A moresolid etymologyis suggestedfor
Amfortas,who is seen as a personification of the vice of
&Kpaara "incontinence"(Grk. Kpacrla = Lat. infirmitas>
OFr. enferti,Nom. enferts: MHG. Amforlds).But the
formalpart is not new, and the semanticinterpretation
 BOOK REVIEWS
("in favorof a more moral ratherthan physicalconnota-
tion," p. 95), althoughin agreementwith the storyand
veryappealing,is hardlysubstantiated.
Thus the main chapter leaves the reader with mixed
impressionsand numerousobjections.The followingchap-
ter, discussingthe intermediatestages in the historical
continuityof the Hermetic heritage through the 12th
century,is faced with the factthat "no traces ... existof
an uninterrupted knowledgeof Greek Hermetismin the
West duringthe Middle Ages" (p. 113). But the authors
successfully restoresome of the missingtracesby including
the Arabiccivilizationas a medium.Undoubtedlythe high
point of this investigationis the sectionon "Kyot's Iden-
tity" (pp. 122-127) (also published previouslyin Zeit-
schriftfar deutschesAltertum, 1959). The Kahanes accept
Wolfram'sstatementsabout Kyot as factualand arriveat
a solutionthatwillmakeit moredifficult forfuturescholars
to discardWolfram'sbiographicinformation as plainlyiron-
ical and highlyphantastic.The identification of Kyot as
WilliamofTudela, thecontemporary Spanishauthorofthe
Chansonde la croisadealbigeoise,who spentpart of his life
in SouthernFrance, would seem to account forthe num-
erous, often puzzling and seeminglycontradictorydata
suppliedby Wolfram(name,provenience,time,profession,
religion,scholarship,language,secretknowledge);it would
also solve the problemof the strangeCatalan-Provengal
traces in Wolfram'svocabularyand the mysteriousechoes
of some of the hereticdoctrinesof the Cathari. The argu-
mentis impressively supplementedby a detailedinvestiga-
tion into geomancy,demonstrating that Williamwas cer-
tainlyfamiliarwiththisart,especiallywithits astrological
branch,and that Wolframwas fullyaware of it. The criti-
cism this identificationhas met, especially on phonetic
grounds(H. Kolb, Munsalvaesche,pp. 195-196), cannot
be taken lightlyand may well rule out this temptingsolu-
tion; but in any case it shouldbe creditedforpreparingthe
way for a new literalapproach to Wolfram'sKyot state-
ments.
The finalchapteris essentiallya briefsummaryof Wol-
fram'suse of Hermeticmaterials.For bettercomparison,
the Krater treatiseis printedin full. This chapteris fol-
lowed by an elaborate technicalapparatus containingthe
bibliographicalreferences, an Index Locorumas well as an
Index Nominum,Rerum, Vocabularum,all of which are
verythoroughand accurate.Errorswerenot noticed.The
64 plates at the end, with detailed description,are a very
helpfuladdition.It shouldalso be gratefully noted that all
quotationsfromGreek,Latin, French,and Germanhave
been conscientiouslytranslated,making the study much
less esotericto the non-comparatist.
At the end, the question arises again: Is Wolfram's
Parzivalfundamentally a Hermeticbook? We do not think
so. From the germanisticpoint of view, the particular
meritsof this studywould seem to be (1) the emphasison
the religiousdevelopmentof the hero,with a definition of
the individualphases fromignoranceto rebirth;(2) the
courageous and fruitfuldiscussionof Wolfram'ssources
(Kyot, Flegetanis).But neitherof thesemeritscan conceal
the basic lack of conclusiveevidenceforan unmistakably
Hermeticfoundation.The so-calledparallels are oftentoo
generalforsuch evidence,and the spiritualactionof Parzi-
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181
val, althoughreadily recognizedin its significance, could
well be regardedin the light of fairlyuniversal,if not
archetypalconceptsof the course of the hero. Also, too
many details of the epic could neverbe accommodatedto
Hermetic terms.Even the importantcontributionto the
Kyot problemdoes not strengthenthe Hermeticpoint; it
rather presses it to the extent that William of Tudela,
whose affiliationwithHermeticreligioncould not be estab-
lished with certainty,appears as the mediatorof "some
formof the CorpusHermeticum in an Arabic version" (p.
154). Finally, thereremainsone basic objection: If Wol-
fram's Parzival were nothing but an esoteric poetical
metamorphosis of a body of secretreligiousdoctrinesinto
an Arthurianromance,the greaterpartofits uniqueartistic
achievementwould be overshadowedby the omnipresent
allegoricalframe of a pagan mysteryand consequently
reduced to irrelevance.It is not insignificantthat the
authorscompletelyneglectall aspects of formand struc-
ture.
These objectionsshould not devaluate the meritorious
featuresof this study. It is a highlyoriginal,at timesin-
geniouspiece of scholarshipwithpartlyveryvaluable re-
sults.It contributesa greatdeal ofbackgroundinformation
and, above all, opens a new perspectiveforexploringthe
mysticalcontentof Parzival.
ERNSTS. DicyK
ofWisconsin-Milwaukee
University
COCCHIARA,GIUSEPPE. Le originidella poesia
popolare.Torino: Boringhieri,
1966. Pp. 368.
3.800 lire.
Dal suo esordio,Popolo e cantinella Sicilia d'oggi (Pal-
ermo,1923),pubblicato a diciannove
anni,il celebrefolk-
loristasiciliano,GiuseppeCocchiara,
ha spessoabbinato,
nei suoi numerosied importantiscrittisul folklore,un vivo
interesseper la letteratura.Infatti, a parte i lavori di
orientamento letterario,per esempio:Popoloe letteraturain
Italia (Torino,1959),le ricerche
letterarie
del Cocchiara
appaionospessoancheneglialtrisuoi libri,comenella
Storia delfolklorein Europa (Torino,1952), o nel brillante
saggioIl mondoallarovescia
(Torino,1963),percitarnesolo
due. Di quest'ultimolibrosi veda,per esempio,la parte
commentata
sugliadynata, dalprofessor
Fucillasullepagine
di questarivista(Vol. XLVIII, No. 8, December, 1964,
pp. 535-536). In Le origini della poesia popolare, la
sua operapostuma(cheperbegliavevalasciatacompiuta
quandolo colsela morte
nel1966),il Cocchiara
si addentra
pienamentenel campo letterario,affrontando
il tema della
poesiapopolare,perdarleil postochele spettanelquadro
dellastoriadellaletteratura.In questovolume,fruttodi
lunghiannidi ricerche,l'autoresviluppain un modoor-
ganicoed esauriente le sue teoriecritichesulla poesia
popolare,offrendomateriale nuovoe a volterielaborando
giAaccennati
soggetti in altrilibri(peresempio,
"Crisidi
una poetica," nella suddettaStoriadelfolklorein Europa),
oppure ampliando articoli scrittianni prima (come con
"Origine e vicende d'una canzone popolare," Annali del
Museo Pitre, Anni II-IV, 1951-1953). Le origini della
poesia popolare,si caratterizzacosi sia per il suo carattere
di maturith
criticadel Cocchiara,
cibchesi vedenellasua
profondadisamina analitica delle teorie pia svariate, e