ABSTRACT
In relation to his previous romances , Chretien de Troyes' Yvain or the Chevalier au Lion represents a marked shift to the use of a fairly overt alchemical symbolism, in which Yvain's adventures are described using a language typical of the hermetic art . These references reappear, albeit in more mystical Islamic terms, in the Conte du Graal. As in his other romances, he uses parody, irony, and subversive rhetorical strategies, to undermine the literary genres in which he feigns to couch his romance. Thus, for instance, the accounts of Calogrenant and Yvain's respective adventures at the Emerald Fountain are subtly framed as failed alchemical experiments. Yet in the final account, it is the underlying moral tone which prevails, thus transposing the alchemical narrative onto a higher, more mystical level, where Yvain's failure at Esclados Ii Rous' fountain is shown to be motivated by his poor interpretation of the alchemical quest as a mere chemical experimentation, and not the spiritual journey it was intended to be. As such, the Chevalier au Lion not only foreshadows the Conte du Graal, but provides the reader with useful clues for interpreting the final romance.
