The Elements of the Grail Tradition

by John Matthews

Defines then explores all aspects of what this tradition represents, its symbolic figures and places.

Genres: Arthurian, Mythology

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

John Matthews is an historian, folklorist and author. He has been a full time writer since 1980 and has produced over ninety books on the Arthurian Legends and Grail Studies, as well as short stories and a volume of poetry. He has devoted much of the past thirty years to the study of Arthurian Traditions and myth in general. His best known and most widely read works are ‘Pirates’ (Carlton/Atheneum), No 1 children’s book on the New York Times Review best-seller list for 22 weeks in 2006, ‘The Grail, Quest for Eternal Life’ (Thames & Hudson, 1981) ‘The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom’ (Element, 1994) and ‘The Winter Solstice’ (Quest Books, 1999) which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for that year. His book ‘Celtic Warrior Chiefs’ was a New York Public Library recommended title for young people.

Reviews

[Kristi Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up expecting to find a scholarly review of the grail tradition, but it turned out instead to be some bizarre new age thingy, which combined reasonably coherent accounts of the myths with exceedingly peculiar (to me) instructions on using the myths for meditation or spiritual growth. Still, it did give me a good idea about who and what were the fisher king and waste land, which is what I wanted to find out. Wish he'd listed the sources for each myth so I could have looked them up.

[Jed Chandler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Inveterate nonsense! It's very low on facts and historic authenticity, but big on what John Matthews is fascinated by - new age waffle. Well, he is one of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids and members of Archpriesthood Union of the Fellowship of Isis.

I confess, I did my PhD on the development of the Grail cycles of literature, with particular reference to the early Byzantine and Celtic sources and the "impossible" characteristics of the grail kings, knights and maidens. I'd hoped for scholarship when I opened this book, or at least a coherent narrative. Nope:neither was in evidence.