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The Arthur of the Iberians

The Arthurian Legends in the Spanish and Portuguese Worlds

Though we think of King Arthur as archetypically British, the spread of the Arthurian legends was international, extending, among other places, to the Iberian Peninsula, where they had a deep influence and inspired such literary works as the chivalric romances parodied by Cervantes in Don Quixote. Iberia was also the conduit through which these legends travelled to the Americas. The Arthur of the Iberians explores not only medieval and Renaissance texts, but also modern Arthurian fiction, the global spread of the legends in the Spanish and Portuguese worlds, and the social impacts of Arthur and the Round Table through adoption of names and imitation of the practices narrated in the legends.

576 pages | 7 x 9 1/2 | © 2015

Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages

Literature and Literary Criticism: British and Irish Literature


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Reviews

“This is a superb collaborative enterprise by eleven leading authorities. Ranging across the Romance languages of Iberia, including their territories overseas, and extending chronologically into the twentieth century, it takes into account the many scholarly developments and discoveries since the classic surveys by Entwistle (1925) and Lida de Malkiel (1959). The essays study in detail how the Matter of Britain spread widely in the Peninsula, shaped home-grown genres such as chivalric and sentimental romances, including Don Quixote, and even came to serve at times as a model for life in the early modern period. Edited with skill and precision by David Hook, this book will establish itself for many years to come as an invaluable resource for scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, as well as the general reader.”

Edwin Williamson, University of Oxford

“This volume is indeed an outstanding achievement, a tour de force which has resulted in a remarkable book. Because of its ample chronological scope, and of the vast chronological period it covers, this Arthur of the Iberians is a veritable Summa Arturiana Hispanica, a research tool which will be essential to any scholar wishing to investigate the presence of Arthurian material in the Hispanic world.”

Juan-Carlos Conde, Magdalen College Oxford

Table of Contents

Preface
Ad Putter
 
List of Contributions
 
List of Abbreviations
 
Introduction
 
1. Arthurian Material in Iberia
Paloma Gracia
 
2. The Surviving Peninsular Arthurian Witnesses: A Description and an Analysis
José Manuel Lucia Megias
 
3. Arthurian Literature in Portugal
Santiago Gutiérrez Garcia
 
4. The Matiére de Bratagne in Galicia from the XIIth to the XVth Century
Pilar Lorenzo Gradin
 
5. The Matiére de Bratagne in the Corona de Aragón
Lourdes Soriano Robles
 
6. The Matter of Britain in Spanish Society and Literature form Cluny to Cervantes
Carlos Alvar
 
7. The Post-Vulgate Cycle in the Iberian Peninsula
Paloma Gracia
 
8. The Hispanic Versions of the Lancelot en Prose: Lanzarote del Lago and Lancalot
Antonio Contreras
 
9. The Iberian Tristan Texts from the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Maria Luzdivina Cuesta Torre
 
10. Amadis de Gaula
Rafael Ramos
 
11. Arthur Goes Global: Arthurian Material in Hispanic and Portugese America and Asia
David Hook
 
12. The Contemporary Return of the Matter of Britain to Iberian Letters (XIXth to XXIst Centuries)
Juan Miguel Zarandona
 
Bibliography
 
Index of Manuscripts
Index

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