Arthur of the French: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval French and Occitan Literature

This major reference work is the fourth volume in the series Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages. Its intention is to update the French and Occitan chapters in R. S. Loomis's Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages: A Collaborative History (1959) and to provide a volume that will serve the needs of students and scholars of Arthurian literature. The principal focus is the production, dissemination and evolution of Arthurian material in French and Occitan from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Beginning with a substantial overview of Arthurian manuscripts, the volume covers writing in both verse (Wace, the Tristan legend, Chretien de Troyes and the Grail Continuations, Marie de France and the anonymous lays, the lesser known romances) and prose (the Vulgate Cycle, the prose Tristan, the Post-Vulgate Roman du Graal, etc.). Chapters are also devoted to manuscript compilations, late medieval Arthurian literature, the Arthurian tradition in Occitan literature and Arthur in modern French fiction and film. The contributors provide authoritative summaries of recent research in the field, including aspects such as the intertextuality of Arthurian literature and the socio-political and cultural context of Arthurian works. Each text or author is treated in a sufficiently independent way for the reader to be able to use the volume as a work of reference.