Poet, translator, and independent scholar Daniel J. Polikoff received his PhD in Comparative Literature from Cornell University and his Diploma in Waldorf Education from Rudolf Steiner College. In addition to work in numerous literary journals and anthologies, he has published two collections of poetry (Dragon Ship and The Hands of Stars) as well as Parzival/Gawain: Two Plays, his edited translation of a dramatic version of the Grail legend. Dr. Polikoff has taught literature in Waldorf schools and shared his passion for Rilke in a wide variety of venues, including the Festival of Archetypal Psychology at Notre Dame (where the idea was born for his book In the Image of Orpheus); the San Francisco Jung Society; and seminars in literary circles. He resides with his wife Monika and two children in the San Francisco Bay area.
Why does the Parzival legend exercise such a lasting hold on the imagination? Perhaps in part because this medieval epic strikes a peculiarly modern tone; it is one of the first works to portray the inner development of its hero, and in so doing translated the dominant religious mythos of the West into terms amenable to individual imagination and experience. As we follow Parzival's transformation from a knight of the sword into a knight of the word, we see spiritual truths enacted in the language of life. We present this version of parzival as an offering to the human community, in the belief that the timeless wisdom contained in the Grail legend makes it truly "a vessel of grace."