#erec

[hovelicher-unsin]

Ich liebe liebe liebe, wenn jemand von mir weiß, dass ich mittelhochdeutsche Literatur liebe und dann erfährt, dass meine Katze Enite heißt. Der Blick ist jedes Mal so großartig.

[talesfromtheenchantedforest]

Knights Irrevocably On My Shit List

Erec

[aestheticmoody]

Arthurian Legend : Erec

[distantpagesandpapercuts]

"Where did that come from?" - erec

Blood blood blood blood

Kira notices the other's shirt has a blood stain starting to pool, and when she points it out, he doesn't seem all that concerned about it. Perhaps he was just used to injury in his work.

"Dunnow," Kira sighs before zipping open her bag and digging around.

"Better take care of it fast, even the most insignificant of injuries can be a problem left untreated. Here- lift up your shirt. We'll see how bad it is. I've got some supplies you can use." She pulls out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some wound dressings for now.

[gaywarcriminals]

The first skill on SJ's yaoi resume is that he can get jealous of anything. 

[queer-ragnelle]

4th Perceval Continuation | More quotes at Arthuriana Daily

[gawrkin]

Guinevere stealing Morgan's shit

[castle-calypse]

Have y’all heard of the tale of Erec and Enide by Chretien de Troyes? I came across it in the book Legends of Chivalry: Medieval Myths.

Very very basic recap: Erec wants to fight a big knight he saw so he follows him and stays with a poor old man who has a daughter. She’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen (obviously). Erec has to fight the big knight so he can marry her. He does and wins and marries her (nice).

But the last paragraph about this story is making me giggle so much:

“But such was Erec’s love that he lost interest in all other things, even forsaking the acts of chivalry for which he was famed. He no longer went in search of adventure or even fought in tournaments. Most days, in fact, the couple did not leave their bed until noon. Erec’s reputation was soon in tatters and people began to mock the once-proud knight behind his back, spreading rumors that he had become nothing more than a coward.”

Bro fucked off to become a wife guy. And then everyone talked shit about him. That’s so fucking funny to me I love it so much.

[dullyn]

the entire beginning of Erec and Enide being that King Arthur wants to kill a special stag (and will also have to kiss the most beautiful maiden) is so funny because it devolves so heavily from that.

the story does stick to the the common set up of most arthurian romances in that Knight X goes on a quest and somehow ends up on three sub-quests as well, running into Knights Y and Z somewhere along the way (then there’s always like minimum two maidens involved). it’s just amusing that such an adventure started with Arthur wanting to go on a hunt.

the common set up does make me happy though because i just think it’s neat that such a repeated narrative can yield so many different stories that are all so entertaining, along with being adapted so many times that there are then even more stories. plus it itches my brain in a nice way because the stories are like Ol’ Reliable.

also shoutout to Yder, son of Nut.

[helenofblackthorns]

I've been thinking Adaon today & the more I think about him the more sure I become that he's going to betray Kieran in twp. the friend of all is the friend of none etc etc

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[hovelicher-unsin]

my friend said yesterday that i'm like this about "eric"

by which she meant "erec" and i love my friends for trying. she was also correct, i can definitely turn into a biting, violent guy thinking about him and how he came back from death to save his wife from a weird guy trying to flirt with her

[howaboutswords]

Such sorrow our splendid sovereign never knew,

Nor was his spirit ever sunk as by that single sight.

The good King gazed, gripped with horror,

Groaned gruesomely, wept gouts of tears,

Bent kneeling to the body, embraced it,

Cast up his visor, quickly kissed Gawain,

Looked at his eyelids, now locked fast shut,

His lips like lead and his complexion pallid,

And then, crowned king, cried aloud:

'Dear cousin and kinsman, in care I am left,

For now my glory is gone, and my great wars finished.

I hold here my hope of joy and armed success;

Wholly on him depended my heart and strength!

O my counsellor, my comfort, keeper of my heart,

Renowned king of all knights ever known under Christ!

Worthy to be king, though I wore the crown!

Throughout the wide world my wealth and my glory

Were won by Gawain, through his wisdom alone.

Alas!' cried the King, 'my grief grows now;

I am utterly undone in my own country.

Ah, dire and dreadful death, you delay too long!

Why spin out so slowly? You smother my heart!'

- Arthur mourns on finding Gawain and his troops dead in the alliterative Morte Arthure, lines 3947-3968, translated by Brian Stone.

[jasper-the-menace]

Hey, uh, MTG lore nerds...do we know what happened to Rowan and Will's half-siblings? Like, are they okay? Do we know where they are?

[justmebeingcurious]

“While some of the Round Table ride off to their kingdoms in this world or to martyrdom in the Holy Land, the greatest of Arthur´s knights, the model of chivalric excellence as warrior and lover – the man Ector praises as the most courteous knight ever to bear shield or strike with sword or sit astride a horse; the truest friend that ever loved woman; and the meekest man and the gentlest ever to eat in hall among ladies – Lancelot is the only one of Arthur´s knights to die shrunken, emaciated, wrapped in religious skirts, without armour, weapons, or horse, a religious mumbling the joys of heaven. Once again, and for the last time, Lancelot mirrors the behaviour of Guenevere as he leads the way out of this world and points the way to God.” 

'Polymorphous Sexualities' in Chrétien de Troyes and Sir Thomas Malory by Jerome Mandel in The Body and the Souls in Medieval Literature.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Erec Smith

Published: Feb 24, 2024

My impetus for dedicating the bulk of my career to combatting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives began on a listserv for Rhetoric and Composition, the field in which I teach as a professor. Upon hearing a well-received speech claiming that the teaching of Standard English to Black students was a form of racism, I wrote an email questioning the efficacy of that argument. My inquiry induced a level of opprobrium I did not expect. I was called a white supremacist, and blatant lies were spread about me on social media.

Besides these robust attempts to degrade me, I noticed a consistent infantilization of anyone Black who was “brave” enough to speak up against me. Mind you, this extremely woke listserv was a safe place to voice disdain for anyone who refused to embrace a victim narrative—no bravery required—but in order to abide by that narrative, anyone Black had to be cast as a downtrodden victim punching up and speaking truth to power. Anyone Black except me, of course. For wanting Black students to have the utmost agency and to flourish in today’s society, I, a Black man, was shunned by whites and Blacks alike.

The U.S. is currently celebrating Black History Month, and I’ve been asked to share my thoughts about how this month of celebration aligns with DEI initiatives. The answer to that question depends on the type of DEI. Some DEI initiatives align with the classical liberal values of the civil rights movement, and indeed of America’s founding, such as freedom and equal opportunity for all, regardless of skin color. Other versions of DEI, however, are undergirded by critical social justice (CSJ), an ideology that pits whites and Blacks against each other; whites are perpetual oppressors, and Blacks are perpetually oppressed. This variation of DEI, which I refer to as CSJ-DEI, is the ideology that was on display during the aforementioned listserv debacle. It insists on the perpetual victim status of Black Americans and, in so doing, is ideologically opposed to the celebration of Black Americans because it focuses on their trials, not their triumphs. Black History Month is supposed to be about Black empowerment, but CSJ-DEI depends on Black disempowerment.

One can get the gist of CSJ by understanding its primary tenet: “The question is not ‘did racism take place?’ but rather ‘how did racism manifest in that situation?’” This philosophy assumes that racism is always already a part of any interaction between whites and nonwhites; one just has to find it. Assessing the facts of a particular situation is considered unnecessary, even naive. One need not think when it comes to racial justice; the narrative—the script—does the thinking. Does this lack of agency, this deference of volition to a pre-scripted narrative, sound empowering?

CSJ-DEI is about leaning into to the “downtrodden Black person” narrative, but that narrative does not align with the reality of today’s America. Forget about the growing presence of current or recent Black immigrants and the enhanced socioeconomic status of many Black Americans today. According to the altered reality of CSJ-DEI, Black people must still be seen as irredeemably oppressed. Scholars Julian Adorney and Jake Mackey call this altered reality a “virtuous lie,” defined as “a false or dubious claim that is asserted without qualification because it is thought to advance an ethical agenda.” Exaggerated police statistics and the insistence that Black Americans are still caught in a form of slavery are just the tips of this “virtuous” iceberg.  

Virtuous lies are anything but virtuous in these situations, but they show up in traditionally virtuous places, such as scholarly journals. In the scientific journal Cell, prominent scientists insist that the Black individuals among their ranks “continue to suffer institutional slavery.” In addition, a philosophy professor argues that the “years 1492 and 1619 and 1857 and 1955 are still now” and insists she means this in “a meaningful, non-metaphorical sense” (my emphasis). The absurdity of these statements is matched, if not eclipsed, only by the fact that these authors were confident their arguments would be taken seriously. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was emboldened enough to say that a false narrative is acceptable if it feels “morally right”; to insist on facts is to be misguided.

Black History Month is too good for CSJ-DEI. It is about the celebration of figures in Black history who beat seemingly insurmountable odds. It is about figures like educator Mary McLeod Bethune, lawyer Samuel J. Lee, congressman Josiah T. Walls and many others of whom most are unaware. I firmly believe that these figures would scoff at CSJ-inspired ideas such as equitable math, the demonization of debate and the violence of teaching Standard English to Black students.

[ Autodidact, reformer and orator Frederick Douglass. ]

The misalignment of Black History Month with CSJ-DEI is exemplified by one of the most consistently celebrated figures of Black history: Frederick Douglass. As a slave, Douglass taught himself to read despite the fact that it was illegal. He had to be astute enough to be autodidactic and clever enough to do it without getting caught. When he escaped into the free states, he rose to become the most sought-after orator of the 19th century. Douglass’ life is an implicit counterargument to the CSJ-DEI narrative: If Douglass could accomplish this as a slave two centuries ago, what excuses do Black people have for embracing victimhood today, in a truly free society of which Douglass could only dream?  

Ultimately, CSJ-DEI not only counters the spirit of Black History Month, but it insults the figures celebrated during that month. To pretend things are just as bad now as they were throughout American history is to disrespect the accomplishments of Black Americans. Black Americans today are here and thriving precisely because of their power and ability to rise above adverse circumstances. To insist we remain disempowered at all times is risible at best.