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Overview
This companion is a complete guide to the canon of Arthurian literature, from its earliest beginnings to contemporary manifestations of Arthur in film and media. Leading scholars review Arthurian legends and their transformations across time, from language to language, text to film, medieval to modern.
Beginning with the debate about the “historical” Arthur and his Celtic origins, this volume chronicles the transmission and reception of the legend throughout Britain and Europe. Arthurian legends from medieval to Victorian literature are surveyed and the iconography of Arthurian themes in art is explored. The symbolic role of Arthur in modernist literature ushers in the twentieth century, while feminist and fantasy fiction bring Arthur into post-imperial contexts. Finally, the companion highlights the rebirth and legacy of the Arthurian legend in contemporary film and digital media.
Part of Wiley-Blackwell’s popular Companions to Literature and Culture series, this expansive volume enables a rich understanding of the many forms of Arthurian literature and why the legend lives on.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781118234303 |
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Publisher: | Wiley |
Publication date: | 11/23/2011 |
Series: | Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture , #177 |
Sold by: | JOHN WILEY & SONS |
Format: | eBook |
Pages: | 592 |
File size: | 3 MB |
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Table of Contents
List of Illustrations viiiNotes on Contributors ix
Introduction: Theories and Debates 1 Helen Fulton
Part I The Arthur of History 13
1 The End of Roman Britain and the Coming of the Saxons: An Archaeological Context for Arthur? 15 Alan Lane
2 Early Latin Sources: Fragments of a Pseudo-Historical Arthur 30 N. J. Higham
3 History and Myth: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae 44 Helen Fulton
4 The Chronicle Tradition 58 Lister M. Matheson
Part II Celtic Origins of the Arthurian Legend 71
5 The Historical Context: Wales and England 800–1200 73 Karen Jankulak and Jonathan M. Wooding
6 Arthur and Merlin in Early Welsh Literature: Fantasy and Magic Naturalism 84 Helen Fulton
7 The Arthurian Legend in Scotland and Cornwall 102 Juliette Wood
8 Arthur and the Irish 117 Joseph Falaky Nagy
9 Migrating Narratives: Peredur, Owain, and Geraint 128 Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan
Part III Continental Arthurian Traditions 143
10 The “Matter of Britain” on the Continent and the Legend of Tristan and Iseult in France, Italy, and Spain 145 Joan Tasker Grimbert
11 Chrétien de Troyes and the Invention of Arthurian Courtly Fiction 160 Roberta L. Krueger
12 The Allure of Otherworlds: The Arthurian Romances in Germany 175 Will Hasty
13 Scandinavian Versions of Arthurian Romance 189 Geraldine Barnes
14 The Grail and French Arthurian Romance 202 Edward Donald Kennedy
Part IV Arthur in Medieval English Literature 219
15 The English Brut Tradition 221 Julia Marvin
16 Arthurian Romance in English Popular Tradition: Sir Percyvell of Gales, Sir Cleges, and Sir Launfal 235 Ad Putter
17 English Chivalry and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 252 Carolyne Larrington
18 Sir Gawain in Middle English Romance 265 Roger Dalrymple
19 The Medieval English Tristan 278 Tony Davenport
Part V From Medieval to Medievalism 295
20 Malory’s Morte Darthur and History 297 Andrew Lynch
21 Malory’s Lancelot and Guenevere 312 Elizabeth Archibald
22 Malory and the Quest for the Holy Grail 326 Raluca L. Radulescu
23 The Arthurian Legend in the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries 340 Alan Lupack
24 Scholarship and Popular Culture in the Nineteenth Century 355 David Matthews
25 Arthur in Victorian Poetry 368 Inga Bryden
26 King Arthur in Art 381 Jeanne Fox-Friedman
Part VI Arthur in the Modern Age 401
27 A Postmodern Subject in Camelot: Mark Twain’s (Re)Vision of Malory’s Morte Darthur in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court 403 Robert Paul Lamb
28 T. H. White’s The Once and Future King 420 Andrew Hadfield
29 Modernist Arthur: The Welsh Revival 434 Geraint Evans
30 Historical Fiction and the Post-Imperial Arthur 449 Tom Shippey
31 Feminism and the Fantasy Tradition: The Mists of Avalon 463 Jan Shaw
Part VII Arthur on Film 479
32 Remediating Arthur 481 Laurie A. Finke and Martin B. Shichtman
33 Arthur’s American Round Table: The Hollywood Tradition 496 Susan Aronstein
34 The Art of Arthurian Cinema 511 Lesley Coote
35 Digital Divagations in a Hyperreal Camelot: Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur 525 Nickolas Haydock
Index 543
What People are Saying About This
"Even so, A Companion to Arthurian Literature is without a doubt a very useful collection of essays with up-to-date guides for reading and a bibliography that students and non-specialists will find very handy." (Besprechungen, 1 January 2011)
"This is a volume which will be of particular use to students and scholars of English-though it will be equally useful, no doubt, to readers from other traditions who need a quick, but scholarly and exhilarating, introduction largely to the English-language Arthur." (Arthuriana, 21 January 2011)
"A must for anyone interested in the many aspects of the Arthurian legend, the book includes abundant references (including to primary sources) that will serve both those approaching this material for the first time and those pursuing complete knowledge of the subject." (CHOICE, 2009)
"If the coverage is impressive, it is matched by the content.... Any library that covers English literature and popular culture will find this a very worthwhile and popular acquisition for a range of student, academic and other interested readers." (Languages and Literature, Autumn 2009)