Chronologically arranged entries on more than 30 writers from the Middle Ages to the present trace the pervasive influence of Arthurian legend on world literature.
Laura Cooner Lambdin is a Lecturer in Management at the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business. With Robert Thomas Lambdin, she has published Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature (2000), Chaucer's Pilgrims (1996), A Companion to Jane Austen Studies (2000), A Companion to Old and Middle English Literature (2002), and Camelot in the Nineteenth Century (2000), all available from Greenwood Press. Robert Thomas Lambdin teaches in the Management Department at the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business. With Laura Cooner Lambdin, he has published Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature (2000), Chaucer's Pilgrims (1996), A Companion to Jane Austen Studies (2000), A Companion to Old and Middle English Literature (2002), and Camelot in the Nineteenth Century (2000), all available from Greenwood Press.
This work is an easily accessible volume of literary biographies of
Arthurian writers from Gildas (c. 490-570 CE) to Margaret Atwood
(b. 1939). The editors have selectively chosen some of the major
contributors to Arthurian fiction, from the medieval greats such as
Geoffrey of Monmouth and Sir Thomas Malory, to more modern writers
such as Marion Zimmer Bradley and the comparatively underrated Mary
Stewart. The introduction offers an overview of the Arthurian story
and its development through the ages, and an appended (if
completely tangential) chapter on Arthurian art. Each entry is
necessarily brief (there are 34 entries in 363 pages), but they do
detail the author's life, writings, Arthuriana, and influence on
the development of the Arthurian story. Some authors earn more
space than others, but the encyclopedia's contributors provide good
bibliographies of primary and secondary readings. The entry on
Malory, for example, does a good job of detailing the academic
discourse about who he was and what he wrote, and cites the major
editions of his works and the essential secondary resources to
begin further study. Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and
general readers.
*Choice*
This guide will support substantial investigations of Arthurian
literature in academic and public libraries.
*Lawrence Looks at Books*
This volume is recommended for upper level high school or
university students and their instructors seeking a deeper
understanding of Arthurian legends throughout history.
*Doug's Student Reference Room*
…an excellent collection of essays regarding writers who have
employed Arthur or associated individuals and related themes in
their own literary works…Each chapter contains a respectable
biography, and good coverage of the writer's entire literary opus,
particularly addressing those works in which Arthur and others are
present…The chapter titled 'Arthurian Art' provides an excellent
overview of the artistic representation of Arthur and related
themes found in sculpture, stained glass, decorative boxes,
metalwork, tiles, wall hangings, illuminated manuscripts, and much
more…The Lambdins' latest exceptional volume should be in academic
and public libraries.
*ARBA*
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