It was fall semester 1991 that I acquired two prized possessions: Pearl Jam’s Ten and the “gray King Arthur book.” Ever since the one-of-a-kind Dr. Dennis J. McKevlin, Jr., taught his Arthurian Legends class at Western Carolina University, I’ve treasured the gray book. We used Arthur, King of Britain: History, Chronicle, Romance & Criticism, with Texts in Modern English, from Gildas to Malory (edited by Richard L. Brengle, Prentice-Hall, 1964) as our sole textbook, though generously supplemented by notes and handouts from McKevlin. For the majority of us, it was our first time encountering persons and works such as Bede, Nennius, Gildas, Wace, Layamon, The Mabignogion, and the Historia Regum Britanniae. Now, William W. Kibler and R. Barton Palmer have brought us a very useful book for the classroom, Medieval Arthurian Epic and Romance: Eight New Translations. The just published book offers new translations from Latin, Middle English and Old French of texts that exemplify the most important traditions of Arthurian literature in the Middle Ages. On my bookshelf, this one is going to line up right beside the gray book! — Karl-Heinz Roseman, Vice President, Sales and Marketing
For more about Medieval Arthurian Epic and Romance, go to the book’s page in McFarland’s online catalog. For teaching academics who would like to examine a copy for possible use in their classroom, use our exam copy request form.
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