Modern Interpretations
In modern times his story has been used in such varied retellings as T. S. Eliot's modernist poem The Waste Land, Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal, John Boorman's Excalibur and the novel and film The Natural. The 1991 movie The Fisher King is, in ways, a modern retelling in which the parallels shift between characters, who themselves discuss the legend. Éric Rohmer's 1978 film Perceval le Gallois is an eccentrically staged interpretation of Chrétien de Troyes's original poem. As well, Gerald Morris's series of four novels based on the Arthurian Grail Quest of Percival. Parsival or a Knight's Tale, by Richard Monaco, is a re-telling of the Percival legend. The book Parzival by Katherine Patterson is a retelling of the story.
On the BBC show Merlin, Percival is a large, strong commoner. After saving Prince Arthur's life, he is knighted along with Lancelot, Elyan and Gwaine, against the common practice that knights are only of noble birth.
Read more about this topic: Percival
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