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Arthurian Literature XIII ed. by James P. Carleyand Felicity Riddy

1995; Scriptoriun Press; Volume: 5; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/art.1995.0016

1934-1539

Norris J. Lacy,

Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies

REVIEWS105 social, political, or even emotional problems. Debra N. Mancoff discusses the Arthurian legend in the frescoes ofWilliam Dyce. Her essay, 'Reluctant Redactor: William Dyce Reads the Legend,' is a study ofDyce's frescoes, based on the legend of King Arthur, in the Queens Robing Room, the only chamber in the governmental house reserved for the exclusive use of the monarch. James Noble contends that Marion Zimmer Bradley's highly successful The Mists ofAvaUtn (1982), although ostensibly a feminist view ofArthur's world, is, in fact a rather conservative and, at times, homophobic work. In 'Feminism, Homosexuality, and Homophobia in The Mists ofAvalen, ' Noble discusses Bradley's depiction of Lancelot as a character confused by ambivalent sexual desires. Charles T. Wood, in 'Camelot 3000 and the Future ofArthur,' considers the importance of Camelot3000, a series of twelve comic books, first published between 1982 and 1985, in redefining theArthurian legend for a numberofdifferent audiences. Wood contends thatArthur has the staying power to survive even the indignities visited upon him by popular culture. CultureandtheKingpresents a variety ofliterary and interdisciplinary interests as a worthy tribute to Professor Lagorio.The book succeeds admirably in subject matter and scope. But the volume should have been more carefully edited: Spenser's Faerie Queene has two different spellings on the same page(9). It is anybody's guess how Chretien's Cligèswill appear—Cligès, Cligès, but never, to my knowledge, as itshould be (Cligès). The overall effect ofthe book is indeed a positive one. It is precisely the sort ofcollection ofessays which one assumes that the distinguished Arthurian, Valerie N. Lagorio, would welcome. HENRY H. PEYTON III The University ofMemphis james p. CARLEYAND felicity RiDDY, eds.,Arthurian LiteratureXIII. Woodbridge, U.K.: Brewer, 1995. Pp. 187. issn: 0261-9946. $63. The dust jacket of a recent Arthurian book carries an astonishing publicity blurb. The author of that blurb, Wlad Godzich, contends that Arthurian scholarship 'has recently fallen into disfavor, owing primarily to the widely held impression that little can be added to what is already known.' And so that there can be no misunderstanding, Godzich refers yet again to the 'growing indifference' toward Arthurian studies before devoting himselfto praise for the book in question. One naturally wonders how to reconcile that impression of'indifference' with the fact that the Bibliographical BulUtin ofthe InternationalArthurian Society lists well over 700 entries annually while still omitting a good many items. How does it square with the flourishing ofArthurianai With the proliferation ofArthurian books from dozens of publishers, with Boydell and Brewer and Garland in the forefront? And, more to the present point, with the vitality of the Arthurian Literature series, of which the volume under review is number XIII? Arthurian Literature, which has consistently published excellent and imporrant studies, as well as editions and translations, ofArthurian materials, is at present very capably edited by James P. Carley and Felicity Riddy. This number, typically, is 1?6ARTHURIANA characterized by a broad variety ofsubjects and methods and by the uniformly high quality ofits contents. The volume opens with a fine study of'The Heart's Mirror in Cligès,' in which Claude Luttrell traces the theoryofperception in that romance to Aristotelian sources. He also emphasizes how the notion of light passing through a window without damaging it (a common medieval metaphor for the continuing virginity of Mary and thus a daring element in Alexandre's monologue in Cligès) adds an important and very particular resonance to Chretien's text. One ofthe highlights ofthis volume is the edition, by Carley and Julia Crick, of De Origine Gigantum, a fourteenth-century Latin account 'ofthe aboriginal srate of the island of Britain.' A long (fifty-page) and careful introduction argues that the work was produced at Glastonbury, presents its political component ('the dispute over the constitutional status of Scotland,' p. 54), and offers full discussions ofthe manuscript tradition. The text is properly and scrupulously edired. De Origine Gigantum is adapted from a French text entitled Des Grantz Geanz, a short composition that is the subject of 'Return to Albion,' an excellent essay by LesleyJohnson.Johnson's purpose in studying this accountofthe foundingofAlbion by a group ofexiled sisters led by Albina (whence...