Produced by Robert S. Rudder
The White Knight: Tirant lo Blancwritten and copyrighted by Robert S. Rudder
Joanot Martorell and Marti Johan d'Galba.
The White Knight: Tirant lo Blanc.
Robert S. Rudder. 1556 Lafayette Rd. Claremont, CA. 91711.rrudder@lausd.k12.ca.us
by
Johanot Martorell
and
Marti Johan d'Galba
Edited and Translated
by
Robert S. Rudder
For
Jose Rubia Barcia
Friend and colleague at UCLA
A true "caballero andante"
"Tirant lo Blanc is the best European novel of the fifteenthcentury," says Damaso Alonso in his excellent study.(1) Miguelde Cervantes, writing from the 17th century, affirms: "as far asstyle is concerned, this is the best book in the world."(2) Ifthis is so, why has the novel all but disappeared from view?
Some place the blame on the language of the original: Catalan,whose literature is not widely read in the original tongue.Others say it is the fault of the erotic scenes ~~ too shamefulfor the polite society of earlier times. To my mind, a heavilycontributing factor is its rhetoric. As Joseph Vaeth says:"Within this work may be found religious and philosophicaldiscourses, speeches and disputations…; formal debates…;documents and papers…; formal challenges and replies…;dramatic lamentations; long and fervent prayers; and allusions toclassical Latin authors, to biblical characters and to figuresprominent in medieval literature." He goes on to say that if thenovelist had omitted many of these elements, "his book would inthat case have been reduced to approximately one-fourth of itspresent size, but quite probably it would now be considered amasterpiece of narration and dialogue."(3)
Such has been the aim of this translation: The story line hasbeen slightly abridged, but the most dramatic change is that mostof the rhetoric has been eliminated. If the reader's literarypalate is tickled by this version, and if he would like to readthe entire manuscript in English, he is referred to the versionby David Rosenthal or to the even more complete translation byRay La Fontaine.(4)
Who was the author of this spicy, brutally realistic novel ofkings and knights of the fifteenth century? We know that JoanotMartorell, son of the king's chamberlain, Francesc Martorell, wasborn in Valencia in about 1413. He lived in England during theyears 1438 and 1439, and also traveled to Naples. Death came tohim in 1468. During his life he wrote several letters of combat,and he began to write his novel Tirant lo Blanc in about 1460.Whether or not he actually finished the book is still a matter ofdebate, for it was not published during his lifetime. Anotherwriter, Marti Joan de Galba, adds his name as a second author,and says