Arthur and the grail stories appeared in this French prose cycle
together for the first time; scholars explore its social, historical,
literary and manuscript contexts and account for its enduring interest.
The early thirteenth-century French prose Lancelot-Grail Cycle (or
Vulgate Cycle) brings together the stories of Arthur with those of the
Grail, a conjunction of materials that continues to fascinate the
Western imagination today. Representing what is probably the earliest
large-scale use of prose for fiction in the West, it also exemplifies
the taste for big cyclic compositions that shaped much of European
narrative fiction for three centuries.
A Companion to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle is the first comprehensive
volume devoted exclusively to the Lancelot-Grail Cycle and its medieval
legacy. The twenty essays in this volume, all by internationally known
scholars, locate the work in its social, historical, literary, and
manuscript contexts. In addition to addressing critical issues in the
five texts that make up the Cycle, the contributors convey to modern
readers the appeal that the text must have had for its medieval
audiences, and the richness of composition that made it compelling. This
volume will become standard reading for scholars, students, and more
general readers interested in the Lancelot-Grail Cycle, medieval
romance, Malory studies, and the Arthurian legends.
Contributors: RICHARD BARBER, EMMANUELE BAUMGARTNER, FANNI BOGDANOW,
FRANK BRANDSMA, MATILDA T. BRUCKNER, CAROL J. CHASE, ANNIE COMBES, HELEN
COOPER, CAROL R. DOVER, MICHAEL HARNEY, DONALD L. HOFFMAN, DOUGLAS
KELLY, ELSPETH KENNEDY, NORRIS J. LACY, ROGER MIDDLETON, HAQUIRA
OSAKABE, HANS-HUGO STEINHOFF, ALISON STONES, RICHARD TRACHSLER. CAROL
DOVER is associate professor of French and director of undergraduate
studies, Georgetown University, Washington DC.
