Teaching the Arthurian Tradition - Dorsey Armstrong;Arielle C. McKee

Essays on teaching medieval Arthurian literature and modern adaptations

From the Middle Ages to the present, legends of King Arthur and his court have fascinated readers, inviting contemplation of leadership and community, love and romance, and other perennial concepts. The tales and their history of adaptation affirm that societies across time and place have grappled with the same questions that confront our world today.

Moving from early works by Geoffrey of Monmouth and Thomas Malory to later interpretations by Tennyson, Tolkien, and others, the essays in this volume explore the depth of the Arthurian tradition. They consider its breadth in diverse languages and forms, including Icelandic sagas, Japanese novels, and American hip-hop. Classroom approaches include discussion of disability, race, and gender theories; recommendations for exploring digital technologies; models for creative projects; and further engaging ideas.

This volume contains discussion of Arthurian literature in Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Scandinavian, Spanish, Welsh, and Yiddish language traditions, featuring works including Geoffrey of Monmouth’s De gestis Britonum; Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival; Saga af Tristram ok Ísodd; Möttuls saga; Skikkjurímur; the Tavola Ritonda; Paulino Pieri’s Storia di Merlino; Viduvilt; Gabein; Melekh Artus; The Awntyrs off Arthur; the Alliterative Morte Arthure; the Stanzaic Morte Arthur; Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur; Amadís de Gaula; the Tristan poems of Béroul, Thomas of Britain, and Gottfried von Strassburg; “Merlin’s Prophecy”; Peredur; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Sir Perceval of Galles; Sir Gowther; Marie de France’s “Lanval”; the French Vulgate Cycle; and Chrétien de Troyes’s Perceval, Story of the Grail, Lancelot, and Yvain.

Later versions and other works discussed include Shakespeare’s King Lear, Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Tolkien’s “The Fall of Arthur,” T. H. White’s The Once and Future King, Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur’s Court, Walker Percy’s Lancelot, Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, Natsume Sōseki’s Kairo-kō, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant, Infocom’s computer game Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur, Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake’s song “Holy Grail,” and Kid Ink’s song “Holy Grail.”