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Cloaks of Invisibility: The Status of Arthurian Studies

2007; Scriptoriun Press; Volume: 17; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/art.2007.0002

1934-1539

Elizabeth Scala,

Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies

The Round Table MLA Arthurian Discussion Group 2005 The Arthurian Discussion Group sponsors a session at the Modern Language Association meeting every year; in 2005, the subject was 'Cloaks ofInvisibility: The Status ofArthurian Studies.' Patricia Clare Ingham, in titling the session, said: 'Cloaks ofinvisibility are the stuffoftales ofArthur, instrumental, in some accounts, to Arthur's birth and origin, to Uther Pendragon's paternity of the boy-king. To what extent does invisibility also structure Arthurian Literature as a field?' In the call for papers, we asked: why do scholars working in various subfields of Arthurian romance (medieval or modern, English, German, French, or American) seem to have difficulty engaging with one another's work? And to what extent are Arthurian texts and scholars marginalized (or self-marginalizing), not only within the larger domain of medieval studies, but within the domain of literary studies? Moreover, in the mostly hermetic world of serious scholarly study, texts might be said to occupy certain class positions, and hence their readers, critics, and editors in relation to them. What is the status ofArthurian romance and why do we think so? Our speakers offered diverse, often provocative, answers, as the following papers, only slightly revised for publication, demonstrate. KATHLEEN COYNE KELLY, NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY Cloaks of Invisibility: The Status of Arthurian Studies ELIZABETH SCALA The ongoing film, print, and merchandizing phenomenon surrounding J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series makes for a timely interrogation of medievalist, and particularly Arthurian, work. While many university scholars lament the dwindling attention and funds given to medievalistprojects, the MiddleAges seems very much alive and well in its popular formations. Both youth and adult cultures are obsessed with the Middle Ages, even beyond the indication that we might perceive from the castle-inhabiting, wizarding narratives ofRowling that have made Harry Potter the best-selling series in publishing history. The fanaticism prompted and fueled by the Star Wars franchise and the Lord ofthe Rings film trilogy, the cult following of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and its recent re-vivication in the Broadway production ofSpamalot, also provide obvious signs ofthe popularity ofthe Middle Ages in the contemporary imagination. But there are numerous others to be found in television advertising: IBM, the U.S. Marines, Capital One Credit Cards, and Jack-in-the-Box restaurants each use medieval, and specifically Arthurian, ad ARTHURIANA I7.4 (2??7) 93 94ARTHURIANA campaigns. An IBM commercial, in which a patient relays an Arthurian dream of pulling the sword from the stone to a Freudian psychoanalyst may be the most telling in terms of the location of our medievalist fantasies in our dreams ofwork, functionality, and computer-assisted productivity. For all its vast distance and cultural displacements, the Arthurian fiction fully inhabits our post-Freudian unconscious and reappears in our dreamwork as well as our enjoyments. Most pervasively, and most consistently, the Arthurian dream inhabits our childhood and the enjoyments we produce for our children. Lego, Playmobile, Playskool, and Barbie have elaborately developed medieval world-building products. With Playmobile one can choose a multi-unit, elaborate 'King's Castle,' or a Viking ship, and re-enact Danish raids on the Angles or the Norman conquest. Playmobile's miniature accessories, which include crossbows, longbows, quiver with removable arrows, frothing beer steins, various helmets (some with nose plates), shields, plate armor, and detachable facial hair, enable a wide variety of historical play. (My children use the 'Fairy Tale Castle,' which appears to be a semi-Restoration-cumCinderella affair, to represent the French and mock up the Hundred Years' War with the very English King's Castle noted above.) This is but one example. Children's culture is saturated with medieval dolls, toys, books and imaginative costume ofall kinds and levels of elaborateness (take especial note of the Magic Cabin catalogue and its array ofmedieval dolls, dress, and equipment for Waldorfeducational play). Perhaps most recently and potentially most importantly, the world ofvideo gaming takes the re-vivication of the Middle Ages to its greatest possibilities. Operating beyond the annual 'Renaissance Faire' that might be close enough to attend or the 'Medieval Feast' theme restaurants at various tourist attractions we might visit, we are able to inhabit medieval worlds to the...