The Passing of Arthur New Essays in Arthurian Tradition [Paperback]

Originally published in 1988, this volume contains papers from, and commissioned after, The Passing of Arthur , a conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies in November 1986. No Arthurian story is experienced without some foreknowledge of its end, which the text acknowledges through a complex range of methods. This collection takes this as its point of origin, suggesting that all such narratives concern the passing of Arthur, even indirectly, so the chapters not only look at the death of Arthur but the passing on and development of the Arthurian literature. The figure of Arthur and the Round Table continues to fascinate contemporary readers. This interesting collection presents a wide range of Arthurian studies approaches representing some of the vast scholarship on the genre.

Preface  Introduction  Part 1: Arthur in Medieval France  1. Life in La Mort le roi ArtuCharles M?la  2. The Kings Sin: The Origins of the David-Arthur Parallel M. Victoria Guerin  3. Desire, Meaning, and the Female Reader: The Problem in Chr?tiens CharreteRoberta L. Krueger  4. Aspects of Arthurs Death in Medieval Illumination M. Alison Stones  Appendix: Survey of Manuscripts Illustrating Arthurs Death  Part 2: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight  5. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The Passing of Judgment Marie Borroff  6. Leaving Morgan Aside: Women, History, and Revisionism in Sir Gawain and the Green KnightSheila Fisher  7. The Syngne of Surfet and the Surfeit of Signs in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight R. Allen Shoaf  Part 3: Spensers Arthur  8. The Passing of Arthur in Malory, Spenser, and Shakespeare: The Avoidance of Closure A. Kent Hieatt  9. lc$