The transmedial Grail: Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur (1485), Beardsley’s The Achieving of the Sangreal (1893–1894) and Boorman’s Excalibur (1981)

Abstract

The field of transmedial studies is an ever-growing one due to the ongoing development of different forms of media. While transmedial storytelling, for example, has been studied extensively and transmedial analysis has been applied in ample studies, they have concerned mostly systematically developed franchises or other fictional worlds with a relatively clear narrative. The work on transmediality is increasingly being extended to other storyworlds resembling that of the Arthur cycle, of which the quest for the Holy Grail is arguably one of the most well-known themes. However, there has been no research into the process of transfer the Holy Grail as a transmedial object undergoes, as most investigations have related only to the history, symbolism, or various appearances of the Grail. Thus, the present thesis deals with the implications stemming from the transmedial Grail and the perspective of the reader/observer/audience, an object which has been adopted continually into different cultures, societies, and times.