The Arthur of the French: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval French and Occitan Literature

Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages #4

by Glyn S. Burgess (Editor)

This major reference work is the fourth volume in the series Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages. Principally focused on the production, dissemination, and evolution of Arthurian material from the twelfth to fifth centuries, this volume covers writing in both verse and prose, and addresses such classics as the Tristan legend, the Vulgate Cycle , and the Grail Continuations.

Genres: Arthurian

637 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2006

About the author

Glyn Sheridan Burgess is a British scholar of medieval language and literature, Em. Prof. at the University of Liverpool. He has published on Marie de France, besides other topics, and is the translator of the Penguin edition of the Lays of Marie de France and the Song of Roland. He was awarded a knighthood in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques in 1998.

Reviews

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of the 'The Arthur of...' books are really useful, I find. Even when you're just doing index-based research like me, they're really well indexed and the contents are a helpful pointer to content, too. I don't recognise as many names in the contents as I usually do, but the reputation of this series is enough that I trust them all anyway. My only problem is that, dipping in and out of it as I was, it seemed to be all Chrétien, all the time. I know he was massively influential, but there's also Robert de Boron -- who has people who've never heard his name convinced that the Grail is a biblical story -- and the Vulgate Cycle to contend with, not to mention anything else.

[Flint Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The Arthur of the Welsh' was the first book in the series, and I think this book is the second best. In writing my thesis, which focused on the origins of several romances, I was time and again brought back to Chretien, who was THE focal point in the transference of materials from Wales to the wider continent. I also met the same authors in my studies as I found over most of the book. Not as groundbreaking as the first, but strong scholarship and extremely useful thoughts all in one spot.