Alan Lupack, The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend
New York, Oxford University
Press, 2005.
There is so much literature dealing with King Arthur that it
seems almost a challenge worthy of Sir Lancelot to take on a single book about
it – the only comparable work has been done in encyclopedia form before. But
Alan Lupack has been an Arthurian scholar for decades (often writing and
editing with his scholar wife Barbara Tepa Lupack) and his profession as
librarian gives him both the learning and the calmness to manage this huge
undertaking.
This is where you will find the date, the context, and the
thematic and stylistic essence of the rarest of Arthurian stories, and
unusually Lupack has offered not only a chronological and topographical
analysis but has also at the end provided a range of insightful theme based
essays, to suggest that this mighty myth is actually about real human and
social issues, something that many of the scholars myopically fail to recognise
in their work.
If you are serious about the myth of Arthur, or want to
become so, this book is the place to start.
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