The Return of King Arthur

The Return of King Arthur

Author: Beverly Taylor

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 0859911365

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The revival of interest in Arthurian legend in the 19th century was a remarkable phenomenon, apparently at odds with the spirit of the age. Tennyson was widely criticised for his choice of a medieval topic; yet The Idylls of the Kingwere accepted as the national epic, and a flood of lesser works was inspired by them, on both sides of the Atlantic. Elisabeth Brewer and Beverly Taylor survey the course of Arthurian literature from 1800 to the present day, and give an account of all the major English and American contributions. Some of the works are well-known, but there are also a host of names which will be new to most readers, and some surprises, such as J. Comyns Carr's King Arthur, rightly ignored as a text, but a piece oftheatrical history, for Sir Henry Irving played King Arthur, Ellen Terry was Guinevere, Arthur Sullivan wrote the music, and Burne-Jones designed the sets. The Arthurian works of the Pre-Raphaelites are discussed at length, as are the poemsof Edward Arlington Robinson, John Masefield and Charles Williams. Other writers have used the legends as part of a wider cultural consciousness: The Waste Land, David Jones's In Parenthesis and The Anathemata, and the echoes ofTristan and Iseult in Finnigan's Wake are discussed in this context. Novels on Arthurian themes are given their due place, from the satirical scenes of Thomas Love Peacock's The Misfortunes of Elphin and Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court to T.H. White's serio-comic The Once and Future King and the many recent novelists who have turned away from the chivalric Arthur to depict him as a Dark Age ruler. The Return of King Arthurincludes a bibliography of British and American creative writing relating to the Arthurian legends from 1800 to the present day.


King Arthur in America

King Arthur in America

Author: Alan Lupack

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 9780859916301

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King Arthur in America analyzes the tremendous appeal of the Arthurian legends in America by examining the ways that Americans have found to democratize the Matter of Britain and to incorporate aspects of it not only into America's own mythologies but also into literature, film, social history, and popular culture.


The King Arthur Myth in Modern American Literature

The King Arthur Myth in Modern American Literature

Author: Andrew E. Mathis

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2001-11-16

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 9780786411719

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In American fiction, two forms of the Arthurian myth are commonly found: the use of the myth for political reasons, and the use of the myth for the continuation of an aesthetic tradition that can be traced back to the earliest use of the Arthurian cycle by writers in the British Isles. This work traces the use of the legend from Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court to Donald Barthelme's novel The King. It discusses how Twain used the myth to take a stand against England, how it served cultural and aesthetic purposes in John Steinbeck's writing, how Raymond Chandler used it in complex texts with less obvious Arthurian allusions that carried strong cultural and even political associations, how John Gardner used aspects of the myth to embellish already existing narrative structures and to underscore philosophic debates, and how Donald Barthelme suggests the continuing interest of American writers in the Arthurian legend today in his novels. Also discussed is the effect of World War II on American literature and the Arthurian myth and the Camelot image surrounding the Kennedys.


The Arthur of the English

The Arthur of the English

Author: W R J Barron

Publisher: University of Wales Press

Published: 2020-11-15

Total Pages: 650

ISBN-13: 1786837412

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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.


King Arthur in Popular Culture

King Arthur in Popular Culture

Author: Elizabeth S. Sklar

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-10-03

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1476605270

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The legend of King Arthur is embedded in British and American culture. Contemporary America, in particular, is a rich breeding ground for the Arthurian mythos, not only in films, novels, short stories, and fantasy and science fiction, but in other areas of popular and mass culture as well. This work is a collection of 18 previously unpublished essays that demonstrate the impressive extent to which the Arthurian legend continues to permeate contemporary culture beyond film and literature. The essays cover the Arthurian legend in economics, ethics, education, entertainment, music, fun and games, the Internet, and esoterica. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.


King Arthur

King Arthur

Author: Tony Sullivan

Publisher: Pen and Sword History

Published: 2020-04-30

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 1526763680

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An investigation of the evidence for King Arthur based on the earliest written sources rather than later myths and legends. This book differs from the usual Arthur theories in that it favors no particular conjecture simply analyses and clarifies the evidence presenting it all in chronological order. Starting from Roman Britain, the evidence shows how the legend evolved and at what point concepts such as Camelot, Excalibur and Merlin were added. It covers the historical records from the end of Roman Britain using contemporary sources such as they are, from 400-800, including Gallic Chronicles, Gildas and Bede. It details the first written reference to Arthur in the Historia Brittonum c.800 and the later Annales Cambriae in the tenth century showing the evolution of the legend in later Welsh and French stories. While not starting from or aiming at a specific person, the book compares the possibility of Arthur being purely fictional with a historical figure alongside a list of possible suspects. The evidence is presented and the reader is invited to make up their own mind before a discussion of the author’s own assessment. “What impressed me about this book is Sullivan’s passion for this subject and his willingness to go the extra mile to show both sides of the argument . . . It was extremely fascinating to see how he treated this book like a criminal investigation, using different fields of study to figure out the origins of the legend, how it evolved, and whether or not there was a king named Arthur.” —Adventures of a Tudor Nerd