Arthurian Literature Xii

Latest work on Arthur by respected scholars.

This is the first comprehensive book on the Arthurian legend in medieval and Renaissance Italy since Edmund Gardner’s 1930 The Arthurian Legend in Italian Literature. Arthurian material reached all levels of Italian society, from princely courts with their luxury books and frescoed palaces, to the merchant classes and even popular audiences in the piazza, which enjoyed shorter retellings in verse and prose. Unique assemblages emerge on Italian soil, such as the Compilation of Rustichello da Pisa or the innovative Tavola Ritonda, in versions made for both Tuscany and the Po Valley. Chapters examine the transmission of the French romances across Italy; reworkings in various Italian regional dialects; the textual relations of the prose Tristan; narrative structures employed by Italian writers; later ottava rima poetic versions in the new medium of printed books; the Arthurian-themed art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance; and more. The Arthur of the Italians offers a rich corpus of new criticism by scholars who have brought the Italian Arthurian material back into critical conversation.

From the twelfth century onwards the legends of King Arthur and his knights, including the Tristan legend, spread across Europe, producing a vast range of adaptations and new stories. German and Dutch literature were of central importance in this expansion of Arthurian material from the 12th to 16th century. This title deals with this topic.

This first comprehensive treatment of Arthurian literature in the English language up until the end of the Middle Ages is now available for the first time in paperback. English people think of Arthur as their own – stamped on the landscape in scores of place-names, echoed in the names of princes even today. Yet some would say the English were the historical Arthur’s bitterest enemies and usurpers of his heritage. The process by which Arthurian legends have become an important part of England’s cultural heritage is traced in this book. Previous studies have concentrated on the handful of chivalric romances, which have given the impression that Arthur is a hero of romantic escapism. This study seeks to provide a more comprehensive and insightful look at the English Arthurian legends and how they evolved. It focuses primarily upon the literary aspects of Arthurian legend, but it also makes some important political and social observations.

The series] epitomises what is best in Arthurian scholarship today.' ZEITSCHRIFT F R ROMANISCHE PHILOLOGIE Since the first volume in 1982, edited by Richard Barber, Arthurian Literaturehas appeared annually. Its original purpose was to offer a forum for long scholarly articles on all aspects - literary, historic, and artistic - of the Arthurian legend in Europe in the medieval and early modern periods, and bibliographical studies of all periods. Under new editors, whose first volume is Arthurian Literature 12 (1993), that original intention has been expanded to include shorter items of under 5000 words, along with the regular Updates to earlier volumes. All articles are refereed, and ArthurianLiterature has become the year-book of serious Arthurian scholarship. An indispensable component of any historical or Arthurian library.' NOTES AND QUERIES

Intended as "the other bookend" to Jessie Weston's work some eighty years earlier, this essay collection provides a careful overview of recent scholarship on possible overlap between Arthurian literature and Christianity. From Ritual to romance and Notes, taken together, bracket contemporary inquiry into the relationship (if any) between Jesus and Arthur. T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" is here regarded as one strand joining this matter to many a recent literary riddle (such as the meaning of the term "postmodernism"). Without reprinting work readily available elsewhere and no longer subject to revision through dialogue with fellow contributors, Notes attempts to do justice to all sides in twentieth century exploration of christianity's contribution to an art form which is also grounded in early European polytheism ("paganism").

Studies of major Arthurian works and authors in Old French, Middle High German, Middle English, and of one important novel by C. S. Lewis. Arthurian Literature continues the policy of alternating themed issues and miscellanies. This varied collection includes studies of major Arthurian works and authors in Old French, Middle High German, Middle English, and ofone important novel by C.S. Lewis. A controversial textual crux in Chrétien's Yvain, debated vigorously by scholars in the late 1980s, is revisited, while the narrative function of clothing in Chrétien's romances comes under review. An enigmatic and linguistically difficult passage from Der jüngere Titurel is translated and discussed, and an article on Der arme Heinrich studies this pious tale in the context of its generic affiliations: while not strictly speaking an Arthurian romance, it deserves consideration here as a work of one of medieval Germany's most significant writers of Arthurian romance. There is discussion of Thomas Chestre's adoption of the lai as a vehicle for social criticism in his Middle English adaptation of Marie de France's Lanval; the evolution of Arthurian romance in medieval England is also the primary concern in a study of The Awntyrs off Arthure. The figure of Arthur himself is central to an examination of the Middle English Prose Brut, and the delicate political implications of Malory's Morte Darthur are explored. Finally, C.S. Lewis's transformation and use ofthe figures of Uther Pendragon and Merlin in That Hideous Strength is explored. Contributors: RICHARD BARBER, JANE DEWHURST, TAMAR DRUKKER, CYRIL EDWARDS, DINA HAZELL, DONALD KENNEDY, GERALD SEAMAN, KRISTA SUE-LO-TWU, JANINA P. TRAXLER, MONICA L. WRIGHT.

Guest Editors: Sarah Bowden, Susanne Friede and Andreas Hammer This special issue focuses on space and place in Arthurian literature, from a wide range of European traditions. Topics addressed include the connections between quest space and individual spirituality in the Vulgate Queste and Malory's Morte Darthur; penitence in Hartmann's Iwein and Gregorius; parallels in sacred spaces in the Matter of Britain and medieval Ireland; political prophecy in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Awntyrs off Arthure A; syntagmatic and paradigmatic spaces in Chrétien's Perceval; spatial significance in Wigalois and Prosa Lancelot; the political meaning of the tomb of King Lot and the rebel kings in Malory's Morte Darthur; and sexual spaces in twelfth-century French romance.