Articles

Arthurian Literature

Curdy, A. E.

From the beginnings of Arthurian romance there has apparently been no subsidence of interest in the stories, both principal and secondary, which are connected with the name and exploits of the main character and the satellites swinging around him as a center. The production has not always been constant, nor do we find in each century reproductions of the tales and versions of the preceding century. This may be indicative of the real situation, or it may be due to the fact that all the copies of a certain version have been lost, or, if extant, still lie undiscovered in some hidden recess. The whole corpus of the literature belonging to the Arthurian cycle, and to the still more extensive one, the Celtic or Breton, must have been enormous. What relation the entire number of versions we now possess bears to the whole production will never be known. We have knowledge of certain versions which have been lost, and, in some cases, also of the names of the authors. It is the purpose of this article to determine, as well as can be done with the material available, the condition and progress of the literature and its geographical distribution, to show its chronological development, and to present the names and titles belonging to each century. Only literature, as such, will be considered, and no account will be taken here of the progress of critical literature: studies, editions, and similar productions.

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Title
Romanic Review

More About This Work

Academic Units
French and Romance Philology
Publisher
Columbia University Press
Published Here
July 2, 2015

Notes

Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France