"I believe this fluent, accurate, readable translation of Tristan and Isolde will become the standard English edition of Gottfried's literary masterpiece. Wisely choosing not to recreate the end rhyme of the original, Whobrey has created a text that stays true to the original Middle High German while rendering it into modern English prose. The inclusion of Ulrich von Tu rheim's Continuation is a great strength of this book. For the first time, English speakers will be able to read Gottfried's work in tandem with Ulrich's and explore-via Whobrey's discussion of Ulrich's sources-the rich Tristan literary tradition in the Middle Ages and the ways in which Gottfried's achievement resonated well after his death. The footnotes provide helpful cultural, historical, and interpretive information, and Whobrey's Introduction offers a nice overview of Gottfried's biography, a discussion of Gottfried's important literary excursus, his place within the literature and genres of his time, and the source material for his Tristan. Particularly useful is Whobrey's discussion of the intricate and masterful structure of Gottfried's text."
-Scott Pincikowski, Hood College

About the Author
William T. Whobrey is former lecturer in Germanic Languages and Literatures, Yale University, and the translator of The Nibelungenlied: with The Klage (Hackett, 2018).

Reviews
"William T. Whobrey conducts Gottfried von Strassburg's great medieval epic into the twenty-first century. The reader will come for the elegant translation and stay for the scholarship."
-Alexander Sager, University of Georgia
"William T. Whobrey's new English translation of Gottfried von Strassburg's early-thirteenth-century medieval German romance about Tristan and Isolde is a much-needed scholarly addition to the fields of German and medieval studies. . . . Given its artistic merits within the courtly tradition of the Tristan legend, Gottfried's romance has deserved a new English translation for the twenty-first century. Whobrey has provided just such an edition, having elegantly rendered the German text into a clear and very readable English, a feat that would have no doubt been appreciated by Gottfried himself, given his praise of clarity and unobscured meaning. Whobrey supplements his graceful translation with an informative introduction, a useful glossary of place and personal names, an overview of the manuscripts, both complete and fragmentary, a comparison of the love story's ending as told by various medieval poets, as well as a selected bibliography. Abundant, yet unobtrusive, footnotes within the translation provide helpful cultural, historical, and literary context, as well as possible alternate readings of the verses based on recent scholarship and on past translations in German or English. Significantly, Whobrey's edition foregrounds the poet and the medieval German textual tradition in ways not previously accomplished by other English translations of this medieval German romance. . . . Whobrey's rendition is poised to replace Hatto's as the standard English translation of this romance."
-Marian E. Polhill, University of Puerto Rico, in Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies



Book Information
ISBN 9781624669064
Author William T. Whobrey
Format Paperback
Page Count 360
Imprint Hackett Publishing Co, Inc
Publisher Hackett Publishing Co, Inc