Abstract: We examine a short story about the queen’s sexual desires as ones of thought, not deed, in the context of Phelps’ own history as a successful novelist to consider the larger politics of writing women’s stories (both historical and fictional) and ways of knowing about women’s lives.

Abstract: In the Prose Lancelot, severed heads in the hero’s adventures serve as emblems of his love for Guenevere. Initially, these emblems celebrate his loyalty to her, but in the romance’s second half, heads that Lancelot finds or removes identify his love for the queen as a moral burden.

Abstract: In this article, I argue that, unlike his French counterpart Calogrenant, the Middle English Colgrevance is not shamed at the well. Instead, he is successful in his endeavors to find marvels and to return to the Arthurian court to tell his tale.

Abstract: Motion in Le Morte Darthur is a significant trope; by examining it we can grasp one key element of its literary vision. The narrative of this work and its characters are driven by constant, intuitive movement that fiercely opposes stasis. This force is fundamental to the fabric of Malory’s world.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Obscene Pedagogies: Transgressive Talk and Sexual Education in Late Medieval Britain by Carissa M. Harris Amanda Joan Wetmore carissa m. harris, Obscene Pedagogies: Transgressive Talk and Sexual Education in Late Medieval Britain. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2018. Pp. xiii, 285. isbn: 1–5017–3040–1. $42.95. Harris

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Medieval Women on Film: Essays on Gender, Cinema and History ed. by Kevin J. Harty Susan Aronstein kevin j. harty, ed., Medieval Women on Film: Essays on Gender, Cinema and History. North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2020. Pp. 208. isbn: 978–1–4766–6844–4. $39.95. Beginning with the publication of Cinema Arthuriana: Essays

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Wolfram von Eschenbach: Dichter der ritterlichen Welt. Leben, Werke, Nachruhm by Joachim Heinzle Judith Benz joachim heinzle, Wolfram von Eschenbach: Dichter der ritterlichen Welt. Leben, Werke, Nachruhm. Basel, CH: Schwabe Verlag, 2019. Pp. 334; 32 b/w & color plates. isbn: 978–3–7965–3955–8. $79. Joachim Heinzle, Professor

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Reviewed by: Xcalibur, The Musical by Stephen Rayne Kevin J. Harty stephen rayne, dir., Xcalibur, The Musical. Music by Frank Wildhorn, book by Ivan Menchell, and lyrics by Robin Lerner. Korean Lyricist/Script: Park Chun Hwi. Executive Producer: Eum Hong Hyeon for EMK Musical Company International, 2019. Starring in the recorded version

Abstract: In this article I revisit my first article published on Le Morte Darthur, tempering my hagiographic reading of Lancelot’s death scene and my moralistic depiction of Malory.

Abstract:In this article I consider possible reasons for Malory’s failure to make good his early promise that later he will describe Mordred’s arrival at court; this is a form of silent retraction.

Abstract:The tension between what is ‘auctorysed’ and what ‘som men say’ offers a glimpse into Malory’s sense of his authorship and reminds us that texts are places of interpretive activity. In addition, I reconsider William Caxton’s role as editor and problematize the role of authorial intention as the basis for the Field edition of 2013.

Abstract:Many films depicting the European Middle Ages delve into issues of nation building and national identity. This is problematic for the early medieval period and for Arthurian cinema. Whether or not a historical King Arthur ever existed, nation states as we know them certainly did not, and both national and ethnic identity are difficult to discern for Britain in the early Middle Ages. This essay

Abstract:This essay compares retrospective thoughtfulness in the classical Japanese death poem, or jisei, with that expressed by Malory in the closing scenes of his Morte. The comparison may help to illuminate just what sort of clarity Malory, in the ninth year of the reign of Edward the Fourth, might have attained, and whether it called for anything like a retraction.

Abstract:Retraction is an essential part of the creative process for Arthurian writers. From the beginning of Arthurian narrative, innovation has led to retraction, then to further innovation, then again to retraction, and so on into the present. Medieval Arthurian writers practiced four forms of retraction and innovation: palinode, re-creation, adaptation, and supplementation. A palinode recants an

Abstract:Since William Matthews published what remains to date the only monograph about the Alliterative Morte Arthure, literary critics have largely elaborated upon—rather than questioned or corrected—the interpretive tradition he established. Modern pacifist ideals continue to shape scholarly work on this poem, so the dominant interpretation remains that the text critiques Arthur and war. We argue

Abstract: This article explores how, in the context of medieval memory-work, reading the Morte constitutes ethical practice, as the motif of female beheading exemplifies.

Abstract:Arthurian scholarship has neglected to examine how depictions of Guinevere as a nun in Britain in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries served to undercut negative archetypes associated with her. Ultimately, the prevalence of depictions of Guinevere as a nun, and the import of this convention, has not received the attention that it rightly deserves.

Abstract:Scholars, like other mortals, at times publish works that they wish they had never written. In this article I discuss an article, published in 1970, that I realized was wrong-headed, and many years later I subsequently published two articles in which I retracted the earlier article.

Abstract:The Adventures of Sir Galahad premiered as America's atomic narrative shifted from global cooperation to nuclear superiority. This Arthurian Western marked the beginning of Hollywood's Cold War engagement with the Arthurian legend, participating in the nation's nuclear discussion as it offered its audience a therapeutic narrative to ameliorate their atomic anxiety. (SA)

Abstract:Each film adaptation of Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court has reshaped and updated the classic story to reflect the concerns of its age. Of special interest in the history of Connecticut Yankee films are the production of the first film adaptation, a silent version made by Fox (directed by Emmett Flynn, and released in late 1920), and the development through three different

Abstract:Although Tristan is depicted variously in the films comprising 'cinema Tristaniana,' one trait remains constant: his determination to complete the bridequest by handing Isolde over to Mark. In some cases, the Irish princess, following Wagner's Isolde, misuses the love potion by sharing it not with Mark, but with his nephew, in an attempt to break the youth's will. (JTG)

Abstract:In this article, I examine a more or less randomly chosen internet list of the 'Ten Best Arthurian Films' to show that queerness rather broadly defined lurks (as is its wont) in the gaps, disruptions, and interstices of most Arthurian films. In films where it seems not to appear, its presence is most unsettling, as it seems to be replaced by subtle or overt gynophobia (not, note, homophobia

Abstract:Two films about a boxer named Kid Galahad are minor but interesting examples of 'cinema Arthuriana'—especially because they are in a long line of tales influenced by a notion of moral chivalry that see modern common people from children to adults from various walks of life as Galahad figures. (AL)

Abstract:This article examines patterns of silence and inexpressibility between characters, author, and reader, beginning in Sir Thomas Malory’s Book of Tristram. These silences indicate Cornwall and Camelot cannot discuss adultery without the discourse of treason. When the silence is finally broken, Camelot collapses and the narrative is forced to end.

always represent the Queste’s ultimate or dominant critical position, insofar as it can even contain such a recognizable position in the first place. Dwayne C. Coleman’s chapter looks to Malory’s Le Morte Darthur and complicates the picture of moral condemnation found in the previous chapter. By likewise taking up Gawain’s reputation as a murderer, Coleman evaluates the status and function of killing

Abstract:King Arthur invented the twelve days of Christmas, according to a series of early modern Scottish historians motivated by nationalist and then Protestant concerns. Tracing Arthur’s link to Christmas feasts from Geoffrey of Monmouth forward provides a case study of how Arthurian tropes could be adapted to changing religious and political circumstances.

other terms such as rifacimento (plural: rifacimenti) surely need to be recognized as foreign (pp. 22, 92). A few essays use italics traditionally (Bendinelli Predelli), although not consistently (Herreid): ‘rifacimenti’ appears without italics (p. 92) followed by ‘opere serie, concitato’ (p. 93) and ‘dramma per musica’ (p. 97) in the same essay. The ‘Works Cited’ format which works well at the end

Abstract:In this essay, I explore how the iconography of the legend of Tristan and Iseult evolved through the ages, noting how each epoch favored a specific episode that seemed to emblemize the lovers’ plight. Although I consider various cultural influences, I emphasize the particular works (mostly literary) from which artists, musicians, and filmmakers appear to have drawn their primary inspiration

Abstract:This essay examines how the practical performance of armor in the late-medieval romance The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain demonstrates both the inherent materiality of chivalric performance and the connections this materiality forges between the chivalric bodies enclosed within armor and the laboring bodies responsible for crafting that armor.

the Roman de toute chevalerie (c. 1174–1200) and the Roman de Horn (1172) for signs of a specifically insular translatio of the Alexander matter. As other scholars have concluded, and Thomas of Kent himself notes, the Roman de toute chevalerie (RTC) draws mostly on Greek sources, the conclusion being that it remains ‘independent of continental Alexander versions’ (p. 152). Despite its faithful borrowings

Abstract:This article explores two elements of the historical context surrounding Malory's version of the Grail Quest. I argue that medieval Eucharistic theology and optical theories help modern readers refine their understanding of the objective of the Grail Quest and the varying degrees of success that the Grail knights achieve.

Abstract:The English Stanzaic Morte Arthur was a major source for Malory's Morte Darthur, but Malory handled it more deferentially than he did his other major English source, the Alliterative Morte Arthure. Although several English works influenced Malory, he acknowledges them just once in a remark probably inspired by Chaucer.

Abstract:In an effort to understand the conceptual unity of the Cotton Nero A.x. (art. 3) poems, I argue that a survey of the kinds of stones in the texts and their biblical meanings can provide a heuristic for understanding the intertextual connections between prominent figures such as the Pearl-Maiden and Bertilak’s wife.

Abstract:I argue that in Malory's Le Morte Darthur, the formal oaths taken before trial by combat are essential for making those trials decisive. Arthur's failure to regulate the oath-taking process before these trials, however, makes them ineffective at producing a clear verdict and ultimately contributes to the fall of Camelot.

Abstract:In its compressed and fast-moving form, the Stanzaic Morte Arthur creates a marked impression of emotional spontaneity, intensity, and suddenness. Poetic strategies of repetition, verbal collocation, and thematic connection create a volatile emotional environment in which joy and sorrow are registered as overpowering bodily and cognitive events. The poem's conduct both bears out the observation

Abstract:Reviews of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword criticized it as an adaptation in class-evocative terms via discussion of tone, historical accuracy, and dialect. This essay examines these criticisms to explore how investment in Arthurian medievalism entails an imagination of history that reflects modern desires for class and class performance.

Abstract:This article engages ecocriticsm and discard studies to argue that the excessive behaviors of the aristocracy in The Awntyrs off Arthure precipitate material and metaphorical waste. Their wastefulness, through overuse and erasure of surrounding ‘natureculture,’ exposes the unsustainability of the court and, debatably, Arthurian romance as a genre.

Abstract:In the Prose Lancelot, the young hero comes to the aid of a foul-smelling, wounded knight. As the narrative progresses from that first adventure, the odor reveals itself as a metaphor for the sins that will undermine Lancelot in his quest for the Holy Grail.

Abstract:This article reads the Vita Merlini as a parable of Merlin's progression from ethical consideration of non-human Others within a fantasy wilderness to sovereignty over the Calidon Forest. This narrative of domination over Nature is complicated as Merlin's colonialist perspective is challenged by Ganieda's desire for a pre-Conquest British wilderness.

M Norman Salda, 57, died on October 16, 2015, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, after an almost decade-long battle with Multiple Sclerosis. Born and reared in Nebraska, Michael received his BA, MA, and PhD from the University of Chicago, where he wrote his dissertation on Chaucer. Salda had taught at The University of Southern Mississippi since 1991, serving in a number of capacities at the university,

Abstract:This article analyzes the Middle English word for 'nature,' kynde, and explores how Sir Gawain and the Green Knight uses its rich denotations to unfold the relationship between identity and action. Kynde extends beyond the non-human, also implicating genealogy, chivalric culture, reputation, proper behavior, and individual moral character and action.

Abstract:Scrutiny of the interventions in his Old French source by the Stanzaic-poet reveals that he drew upon medieval visions of the afterlife in crafting his own unique version of Arthur's dream of the Wheel of Fortune. Inspired ultimately by an exemplum in Book IV of Gregory's Dialogues, the Stanzaic-poet subtly changes the way Arthur is portrayed, for unlike the king in the French La Mort le roi

Abstract:Malory drew heavily on the Stanzaic Morte Arthur for the content of his final books, but he might also have been influenced by the Stanzaic-poet's distinctive use of direct speech to convey emotion. Unintroduced direct speech and uninterrupted dialogue are recurring features of the poem that can lead to ambiguity. Especially when treating the affair of Launcelot and Gaynour, this English poet

Abstract:Although much of the scholarship on the Middle English Stanzaic Morte Arthur is negative, careful attention to the plot construction and character development in the poem reveals both the great artistry and rich characterization of the Stanzaic-poet, whose heretofore underappreciated skills make Malory's adoption of the stanzaic poem as an influential source for his Morte Darthur all the more

Abstract:The complex intertextuality of T.H. White's The Once and Future King problematizes definitions of source and adaptation in medievalism. Positioned as a footnote to, a preface to, and a commentary upon Malory's Morte Darthur, White's work demonstrates the productive possibilities of adaptive relationships that frustrate our attempts to 'taxonomize' them.

Abstract:An evidence-based examination of Chapter 56 of the Historia Britonum (Arthur's so-called battle list) suggests that it has most in common with the world of late antiquity. The work differs in almost every other respect from Welsh heroic age poetry. Arthur's command of Britain's kings, the images on his 'shoulders,' and the sacral number of battles all argue for a context from the time of Orosius

Abstract:This article explores Kazuo Ishiguro’s use of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to reflect on the formation of British identity on a deep time scale to suggest alterity as inherent within the nation’s foundational fictions. We argue Ishiguro borrows tactics from SGGK to destabilize the clarity of national origins.

Abstract:T.H. White not only uses medieval hunting treatises for source material in The Once and Future King, he also engages in interpretive reading. He makes the implicit explicit through exclamatory amplification and thereby demonstrates a close affinity for medieval modes of reading and writing.

Abstract: This article reads Cooper’s 1975 Arthurian bildungsroman in the context of contemporaneous arguments about fantasy as the genre of the inner self. It traces changing ideas about the educational uses of fantasy and myth as a way of understanding the book’s narrative techniques and its allegorization of the journey inward.

The highly equestrian nature of Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide presents opportunities for social, political, and literary analysis that the study of horses and horsemanship can help to clarify. Chrétien's equestrian expertise both reflects and reveals motives, relationships, social conditions, and even thinly veiled politics within the romance.

LAINE E. DOGGETT and daniel E. o'suLLiVAN, eds., Founding Feminisms in Medieval Studies: Essays in Honor ofE. Jane Burns. Gallica 39. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2016. Pp. 280. ISBN: 978-1-843-84427-3. $99.Where has feminism gone? This question is relevant both within and beyond the academy, and the answer in one arena invariably impinges upon the other. Ideally, academic and mainstream feminism are mutually

ALEXANDER L. KAUFMAN, SHAUN F.D. HUGHES, and DORSEY ARMSTRONG, eds., Telling Tales and Crafting Books: Essays in Honor of Thomas H. Ohlgren. Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture: Festschriften, Occasional Papers, and Lectures Vol. 24. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2016. Pp. 386. ISBN: 978-1-58044219-0. $99.Telling Tales and Crafting Books celebrates the works and interests of

Abstract:'Restless Arthur' uses the technique of visual rhetoric to analyze 'Restless' (2015), a music video produced by the band New Order. The analysis examines the use of Arthurian narrative and trope in contemporary popular culture.

RICHARD UTZ, Medievalism: A Manifesto. Past Imperfect. Kalamazoo: ARC Humanities Press, 2017. Pp. xiii, 95. ISBN: 978-1942401025. $14.95.Richard Utz's latest book, Medievalism: A Manifesto, aims to do nothing less than to reform the ways in which we think about academic engagement with the Middle Ages, and with medievalism as a whole. Pulling very few punches, Utz argues from the outset that Medieval

SERINA PATTERSON, ed., Games and Gaming in Medieval Literature. The New Middle Ages. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Pp. xviii, 241. ISBN: 978-1-137-31103-0. $90.Focusing on the 'tension between games and the real world,' this volume presents nine inquiries into games played in medieval life, literary representations of games, and, most intriguingly, texts that are themselves games. It contextualizes

Scenes of Briton-Saxon encounters in his Brut reveal that for Lawman, successful translation bears authority with it. Episodes of translation failure offer a paradoxical key to Lawman's insistence on the power of successful translation. His authoritative rewriting of Wace, in turn, reclaims the insular past for his Anglophone audience.

Abstract:In The Witch in the Wood, T.H. White's depiction of the Orkney clan becomes a manifestation of his own grappling with tensions between England and Ireland and his personal relationship with these nations through references to Brian Merriman's Cúirt An Mheán Oíche and the works of Malory, among others.

Abstract:This article argues that Sir Ector's famous threnody at the conclusion of Le Morte Darthur may have been authored by Caxton. Further, this article argues that by reading this critical moment of closure for Caxton's edition without modern punctuation we can more clearly see how this passage functions to reinforce Caxton's intentions for the effect of his edition on his audience.

Abstract: The presence of alchemical imagery in Arthur’s dream vision—imagery which develops across the English chronicle tradition and which is then incorporated into the alliterative and romance traditions—demonstrates that medieval writers were making use of alchemy as a literary motif of transformation for political purpose as early as the appearance of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae

Abstract:Palomides reveals a major structural pattern of alternating discord and unity in the 'Tristram' section. Though struggling with divided identities and loves, the knight eventually resolves these core conflicts through confession and baptism. Fully unified, he then leaves Arthur's court in reaction to increased conflict within the Round Table.