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The Arthurian Handbook
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.
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.
456 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1988
About the author
Norris J. Lacy
68 books12 followersNorris J. Lacy (born 1940) is an American scholar focusing on French medieval literature. He is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor Emeritus of French and Medieval Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. He is a leading expert on the Arthurian legend and has written and edited numerous books, papers, and articles on the topic. In 2014 the International Arthurian Society, North American Branch, presented him an award for Lifetime Service to Arthurian Studies.
He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University and has held teaching positions at the University of Kansas, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Washington University in St. Louis. He has served as president of the International Arthurian Society. With Geoffrey Ashe he wrote The Arthurian Handbook, and he edited The Arthurian Encyclopedia and its successor, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, a standard reference book for Arthurian works. He also oversaw the first complete English translation of the French Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles, released as the five-volume Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation.
He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University and has held teaching positions at the University of Kansas, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Washington University in St. Louis. He has served as president of the International Arthurian Society. With Geoffrey Ashe he wrote The Arthurian Handbook, and he edited The Arthurian Encyclopedia and its successor, The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, a standard reference book for Arthurian works. He also oversaw the first complete English translation of the French Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles, released as the five-volume Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 6, 2023
Probably *the* definitive introductory point for anybody who wants to study Arthurian Romance from an academic point of view. It offers a concise overview over the myriad of canonical texts and deals extensively with the problem with researching the "historical" Arthur, displaying the varying academic points of view in that ongoing debate (and others).
October 11, 2011
Usefullest book ever for the modern novelist who wants to write something Arthurian. Here is what everyone has already done! Here is the broad outline of the historical consensus!
The historical stuff is most interesting — both the sections trying to answer the question was Arthur real (which break it down into "well, what do you mean by Arthur" and "what do you mean by real"), and the chapters of tracking the legend/myth through the medieval period. Now I desperately want to track down the Icelandic Arthurian works.
The modern chapters, especially the decorative arts chapter, gets to be a drag; it basically turns into a catalog, as the authors don't make qualitative assessments of the works, and don't seem to have a background in schools of thought which talk back to the sources. (i.e., feminist, postcolonial, pomo in general, etc., etc.)
(Come to think of it, I wonder if anyone's tried to write a postcolonial Arthurian novel? I mean, there seems to be general agreement that the "original" setting of the story is in C.5 Britain, and I imagine there was a healthy amount of resentment among the native Britons as the Romans fucked off to the east; you could probably so something really interesting with that. Oh hell. NOT IT, guys, NOT IT.)
The historical stuff is most interesting — both the sections trying to answer the question was Arthur real (which break it down into "well, what do you mean by Arthur" and "what do you mean by real"), and the chapters of tracking the legend/myth through the medieval period. Now I desperately want to track down the Icelandic Arthurian works.
The modern chapters, especially the decorative arts chapter, gets to be a drag; it basically turns into a catalog, as the authors don't make qualitative assessments of the works, and don't seem to have a background in schools of thought which talk back to the sources. (i.e., feminist, postcolonial, pomo in general, etc., etc.)
(Come to think of it, I wonder if anyone's tried to write a postcolonial Arthurian novel? I mean, there seems to be general agreement that the "original" setting of the story is in C.5 Britain, and I imagine there was a healthy amount of resentment among the native Britons as the Romans fucked off to the east; you could probably so something really interesting with that. Oh hell. NOT IT, guys, NOT IT.)
November 7, 2019
This book hits two of my soft spots - the Arthurian legend (I'll eat up anything that deal with the legend of King Arthur and his knights, and surrounding characters) and it was written/edited/arranged by one of my absolute favorite professors - Norris Lacy, whom I had the pleasure to have class with as an undergrad and learn the legend from.
August 28, 2009
The stories of King Arthur are among the most enduring legends in English literature, not to mention French, German and other literatures as well. As the authors note in the preface to the second edition, "in the period 1990-95, and in English alone, well over eighty Arthurian novels and even more short stories were published, and the flood shows no signs of abating."
The authors do not claim to be able to record every title in this flood; to do so would be to make the book nothing more than a bibliography. They concentrate on the more important and significant works.
But the point of such a book is that one is quite likely to come across references or allusions to the Arthurian legend in books that one reads, and so some familiarity with the main features of the legend are useful, and this is what this book provides. It has chronologies of the main works published, including non-literary works, like painting, sculpture, film and more. If gives family trees of Arthur (all different) from the major works. And it gives a brief description of the various works that convey the Arthurian story. At the end there is a glossary, giving the names and roles of the main characters, and their various forms, and the way they are portrayed in various works.
I've read about the Arthurian legend in several books, and allusions to it in several others. One is C.S. Lewis's That hideous strength. The Arthurian element is obvious in the case of Merlin, but for a long time "Mr Fisher-King" quite escaped me.
I tried reading Malory and Tennyson's versions, but found it difficult to see the wood for the trees. This book helps one to follow the thread through the longer works, and also points out some of the inconsistencies. Sir Kay is a villain, or at best a bumbling jobsworth in some versions of the story, but in others, as Sir Cai, he is a hero.
So I've found it a good read, and I'll be going back through it to make notes before I take in back to the library.
The authors do not claim to be able to record every title in this flood; to do so would be to make the book nothing more than a bibliography. They concentrate on the more important and significant works.
But the point of such a book is that one is quite likely to come across references or allusions to the Arthurian legend in books that one reads, and so some familiarity with the main features of the legend are useful, and this is what this book provides. It has chronologies of the main works published, including non-literary works, like painting, sculpture, film and more. If gives family trees of Arthur (all different) from the major works. And it gives a brief description of the various works that convey the Arthurian story. At the end there is a glossary, giving the names and roles of the main characters, and their various forms, and the way they are portrayed in various works.
I've read about the Arthurian legend in several books, and allusions to it in several others. One is C.S. Lewis's That hideous strength. The Arthurian element is obvious in the case of Merlin, but for a long time "Mr Fisher-King" quite escaped me.
I tried reading Malory and Tennyson's versions, but found it difficult to see the wood for the trees. This book helps one to follow the thread through the longer works, and also points out some of the inconsistencies. Sir Kay is a villain, or at best a bumbling jobsworth in some versions of the story, but in others, as Sir Cai, he is a hero.
So I've found it a good read, and I'll be going back through it to make notes before I take in back to the library.
February 23, 2010
A decent survey of Arthurian literature...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews