Teaching the Arthurian Tradition (Options for Teaching)

Essays on teaching medieval Arthurian literature and modern adaptations

From the Middle Ages to the present, legends of King Arthur and his court have prompted readers to contemplate leadership and community, love and loyalty, the spiritual realm, and more, and the tales and their various adaptations continue to invite reflections on the current moment.

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.”