Arthurian Romance Books - Page 5

The Wife of Bath (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism)

Geoffrey Chaucer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great survey of criticism on Wife of Bath 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Beilder takes a whirlwind review of the world of Chaucer criticism. In his introduction, Beidler shows the reader the many levels of thought that are still occuring about Chaucer to this very day.

Editorial Review:

Adopted at more than 1,000 colleges and universities, Bedford/St. Martin's innovative Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism series has introduced more than a quarter of a million students to literary theory and earned enthusiastic praise nationwide. Along with an authoritative text of a major literary work, each volume presents critical essays, selected or prepared especially for students, that approach the work from several contemporary critical perspectives, such as gender criticism and cultural studies. Each essay is accompanied by an introduction (with bibliography) to the history, principles, and practice of its critical perspective. Every volume also surveys the biographical, historical, and critical contexts of the literary work and concludes with a glossary of critical terms. New editions reprint cultural documents that contextualize the literary works and feature essays that show how critical perspectives can be combined.

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (Great Illustrated Classics)

Joshua E. Hanft, Howard Pyle

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

This book is very good for children. 4 out of 5 stars.
13 of 14 people found this review helpful.

"King Arthur and the knights of The Round Table" is an excellent abridgement of mainly the first but also the end of the fourth of Howard Pyle's unabridged four King Arthor novels. It isn't detailed enough for adults or very advanced kids to enjoy. It got under four stars in my view, but I rounded up. This rating would only meet one for adults. This book has action, magic, and romance and all youngsters will love this version of King Arthor. It has the Athorian basics; such as Arthor suceeding in pulling out the magical sword in the stone to become King of England, breaking this sword in a duel and receiving the more powerful excalibur, the marrige of Arthor to the magestic Guinevire, and Sir Modred trying to take his own uncle's throne. The ending is a tragic one, but I will not give it away. The is only one drawback from this book and that is that this book does not include more than a few sentences about Arthor's knights. It has the Launcelot and Guinevere thing (only having them more innocent), but doesn't say much about the other amazing Knights. I would reccomend for adults or very advanced kids, other books by Howard Pyle and "Morte D' Arthor". "Mortte D' Arthor" is intended for more mature readers, but isn't vulgar and sitcomedys are worse.

Editorial Review:

A retelling of the adventures and exploits of King Arthur and his knights at the court of Camelot and elsewhere in the land of the Britons.

Perceval: The Story of the Grail (Arthurian Studies)

Chretien de Troyes, Nigel Bryant

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

One of the most influential books of all time 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This unfinnished romance has inspired centuries of literature. Chretien was probably the most popular writer in the 12th century. Despite the age of the book the story is full of issues that concern us today. It is a comming of age story in which a boy becomes a man and learns of his ancestry and potential. It is also a story of spiritual discovery, and the encounter with mystery. The fact that the poem was left unfinnished makes it even more compelling. Chretien claimed that this book was rewritten from a source book given to him by Phillip of Flanders, his patron. Speculation about the nature of this source has run on for centuries. A recent analysis in _King_Arthur_ by Norma Goodrich, makes a good case that the source was real and that these Arthurian stories took place in southern Scotland. So maybe Percival is more than just one of the greatest works of fiction. I love to read direct translations of Celtic mythology, and this is amoung the best available. Easier to read than you might think, but still a challenge. One of my favorite books.

Editorial Review:

The Holy Grail has intrigued and inspired countless readers over the centuries since it first appeared in Chrétien's Perceval. Essentially the story of the making of a knight, both in worldly and spiritual terms, it is also the source of some of the most dramatic and mysterious adventures of romance. First English translation.

The Arthurian Handbook (Second Edition)

Norris J. Lacy, Geoffrey Ashe, Debra N. Mancoff

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Everything you ever wanted to know about King Arthur and his knights is covered in this fascinating volume: the origins of the Grail legend, the Tristan and Isolde love story in opera and literature, Spielberg's use of Arthurian motifs in Star Wars , the depiction of Arthur in paintings, the presentation of Camelot on the Broadway stage, the twitting of the legend in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and much more.
This critical survey of Arthurian history and legend, archaeology, literature, and the arts from the fifth century to the present provides an introduction for the general reader and a useful summary for the specialist. It offers both historical facts and key discussions on Arthurian subjects, from post-Roman Britain to the most recent novels and films. There is a lengthy glossary of Arthurian characters, motifs, and places, a chronology of major historical and literary items, a guide to pronunciation, and a full bibliography.
What's new in the Second Edition:All the material has been revised and updated to 1996 since the original 1988 edition; The chapter on modern literature has been thoroughly revised, with new material on writings from France, Germany, England, and America; The coverage of King Arthur in the arts has entirely rewritten by one of the premier authorities in Arthurian studies. Brand-new geneological charts of the ancestry of Arthur and his family and the Grail kings and knights.; A fully up-to-date chronology; Many new illustrations.

Porius

John Cowper Powys

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Although Porius is widely regarded as John Cowper Powys's finest achievement in fiction, it has never been published in its intended form--until now. Abridged in every prior publication, the true Porius is presented here for the first time, carefully restored by Powys experts Morine Krisdóttir and Judith Bond. The culmination of Powys's lifelong passion for Wales and its mythology, Porius is at once a historical novel and commentary on the nature of modern warfare.

It is the year 499. The scene is a Roman fort in North Wales, and the principal character is Porius, son of the reigning prince. The Saxons and their forest-people allies are advancing on Edeyrnion in a desperate attempt to save the remnants of their matriarchate. Arthur has sent ahead the magicians, Merlin, Neneue, and Medrawd, to help the beleaguered Porius.

Powys, a self-described "born Inventor of Fairy Tales," transformed the people and animals of his Welsh village into the mythical figures that haunt Porius's primeval woods. The novel was severely cut from its intended form by previous publishers; this edition, newly edited by two preeminent Powys scholars, is Porius as Powys would have wanted the book that he considered "the chief work of my lifetime."

DK Classics: King Arthur (DK Classics)

Rosalind Kerven

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Camelot Re-Visited 5 out of 5 stars.
32 of 33 people found this review helpful.

The large, heavy paper pages will last for years as you read over and over again the stories of King Arthur and the many legends that have come down from that ancient era. The sidebars contain interesting information from the grail to women in leadership in that age of long ago. All ages will appreciate the illustrations: drawings, photographs and maps. Up-to-date information includes the movie, TV, and plays of the original Camelot.

Wonderful Introduction for Children to this Classic 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

My daughter and I have been reading (and re-reading!) the DK Classics (of which "King Arthur" is part of) for several years, since she was 5. These books are very colorful, with lots of illustrations and photos of genuine artifacts, maps, and people from the era in which the story is set. Side panel text gives background information about the author, pictures and story. These "additions" (which do not detract from, but only enhance the story) help the young reader (and the adult too!) put the story into context. It is like getting both a classic and a pictorial history book rolled into one! The text is easy to read. My daughter is now 9, and reading the books on her own. Not only has she developed an appreciation for classic literature, but for history as well. These are great books for parents to read with their children. I highly recommend them!

Editorial Review:

This spellbinding legend conjures up a vision of a Golden Age of heroism, sorcery, and chivalry. Full color.

The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature (University of Wales Press - Writers of Wales)

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Well worth reading 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The Welsh version of Arthur, as opposed to the later French contamination! This is an interesting collection of scholarly articles by various authors, and is well worth reading for anyone interested in the development of the Arthurian legends.

Editorial Review:

This collection of essays presents an account of the Arthurian literature produced in Wales, in both Welsh and Latin, during the Middle Ages. Topics addressed include the "historical" Arthur, Arthur in early Welsh verse, the legend of Merlin, and the tales of Culhwch ac Olwen, Geraint, Owain, Peredur, The Dream of Rhonabwy, and Trystan ac Esyllt. Other chapters investigate the evidence for the growth of the Arthurian theme in the "Triads" and in the "Historia Regum Britanniae" of Geoffrey of Monmouth. There is also a discussion of the Breton connection and the gradual transmission of the legend to the non-Celtic world.

Erec and Enide

de Troyes Chretien

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Erec and Enide marks the birth of the Arthurian romance as a literary genre. Written circa 1170, this version of the Griselda legend tells the story of the marriage of Erec, a handsome and courageous Welsh prince and knight of the Round Table, and Enide, an impoverished noblewoman. When the lovers become estranged because Erec neglects his knightly obligations, they subsequently ride off together on a series of adventures that culminate in their reconciliation and the liberation of a captive knight in an enchanted orchard. An innovative poet working during a time of great literary creativity, Chretien de Troyes wrote poems that had a lively pace, skillful structure, and vivid descriptive detail. Ruth Harwood Cline recreates for modern audiences his irony, humor, and charm, while retaining the style and substance of the original octosyllabic couplets. Her thorough introduction includes discussions of courtly love and the Arthurian legend in history and literature, as well as a new and provocative theory about the identity of Chretien de Troyes. This clearly presented translation, faithful in preserving the subtle expressive qualities of the original work, is accessible reading for any Arthurian legend afficionado and an ideal text for students of medieval literature.

Merlin and the Grail: Joseph of Arimathea, Merlin, Perceval: The Trilogy of Arthurian Prose Romances attributed to Robert de Boron (Arthurian Studies)

Robert de Boron

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Ian Myles Slater on An Invaluable Service 5 out of 5 stars.
33 of 33 people found this review helpful.

A cycle of three -- or, by some counts, four -- Arthurian romances attributed to the poet Robert de Boron (or Borron) is of exceptional importance. It seems to have provided the model for the later Vulgate Cycle, which includes "Lancelot" and "The Quest of the Holy Grail," and its successors, including Thomas Malory''s "Le Morte D'Arthur." Obviously, everyone seriously interested in Arthurian literature will have read it. Wrong. Very wrong.

To begin with, there is, unfortunately, direct manuscript evidence for only "Joseph of Arimathea" (the early history of the Grail) and the opening of "Merlin" in verse. What we have for the whole cycle, concluding with "Perceval" (the Grail Quest), and "The Death of Arthur" (as either the conclusion of "Perceval" or a short continuation of the cycle), is a prose redaction. The relationship of this to the work of the original poet in its later portions is uncertain -- assuming that there was a complete version in verse.

The prose retelling exists in a variety of manuscripts, only two of which (known as Modena and Didot, the latter famous but textually corrupt) contain the whole collection, and they otherwise differ among themselves. There have been a number of editions of the medieval French texts, based on different manuscripts and editorial principles, so even those with a good reading knowledge of Old French have not necessarily read the same book.

For those of us who read only English (at least with any fluency), there has been only the last section, as "The Romance of Perceval in Prose: A Translation of the E Manuscript of the Didot Perceval" by Dell Skeels, published by University of Washington Press in 1961. It was once available in paperback (1966 printing), but is long out of print. Fortunately Skeels resisted the turn-of-the-century models of Sebastian Evans and W.W. Comfort, and turned out workman-like modern English instead of pseudo-Malory. Unfortunately, he provided only half the story (the Quest and the Death of Arthur), and the information provided about the material was limited.

Now Nigel Bryant has come riding to the rescue of beleaguered amateur Arthurians and besieged students (sorry, I can't resist the image) with another of his modern language translations. (He has also made available in English the "Perceval" of Chretien de Troyes, and a selection of its numerous continuations, and also the rather odd "Perlesvaus," as "The High Book of the Grail"). Originally published in hardcover as Volume XLVIII of an ongoing Arthurian Studies series, "Merlin and the Grail" is readable, critically astute, and bibliographically up to date (although I have yet to find Skeels in the bibliography or notes.) It is exactly what I longed for a quarter-century ago when trying to make sense of passages in William Roach's 1941 edition of "The Didot Perceval, According to the Manuscripts of Modena and Paris." We have at last a really early version of the origin and wanderings of the Grail, the conceptions and births of Merlin and Arthur, and the King's early reign, and the insertion of the Grail Quest into the traditonal "history" of Arthur's reign.

Editorial Review:

It is hard to overstate the importance of this trilogy of prose romances in the development of the legend of the Holy Grail and in the evolution of Arthurian literature as a whole. They give a crucial new impetus to the story of the Grail by establishing a provenance for the sacred vessel - and for the Round Table itself - in the Biblical past; and through the controlling figure of Merlin they link the story of Joseph of Arimathea with the mythical British history of Vortigern and Utherpendragon, the birth of Arthur, and the sword in the stone, and then with the knightly adventures of Perceval's Grail quest and the betrayal and death of Arthur, creating the very first Arthurian cycle. Ambitious, original and complete in its conception, this trilogy - translated here for the first time - is a finely paced, vigorous piece of storytelling that provides an outstanding example of the essentially oral nature of early prose.

King

Donald Barthelme

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I annoyed everyone around me with this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Donald Barthelme's "The King" is the loudest laugh I've ever had from a book! It is the tale of Arthur and his knights fighting World War II, though the tale is told primarily through these characters' sad and outdated dialogue. I read this book almost non-stop through breakfast at a coffee shop, a trounce through my favorite bookstore and then dinner, all the while grabbing anyone close at hand to read passages to. Nasty looks and possibly even violent reactions would not assuage me, for the humor, joy and pure inventiveness of Barthelme's writing kept me as humble and courteous as a chivalrous knight

You absolutely must find and buy and -- finally -- READ this 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Hitler and King Arthur come to blows in this, a virtually dialogue-only novel. Absolutely incredible. Will be one of the top five novels you've ever read

Editorial Review:

In this novel, King Arthur is rediscovered - doing battle with the Nazis during the darkest period of World War II. Donald Barthelme is the author of three previous novels and several collections of short stories, notably, "Forty Stories" and "Sixty Stories".