Reviews

The Arthurian Legends by Richard Barber

amandasbookreview's review against another edition

5.0

The Arthurian Legends: An Illustrated Anthology Selections and Introduction by Richard Barber. This collection contains pieces of Arthurian Legend. It only takes portions of the full story but they are perfect selections. It starts with introducing the Welsh traditions and moves into the account of Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain. He wrote this account as a true account but it is one of the first medieval fictions that will go down in history. Then there is the tale of Culhwch and Olwen which is a Welsh tale. There are several other tales from different authors. For instance, The Lay of Sir Launfal by Marie de France, and Yvain or the Knight with the Lion by Chretien de Troyes. Then of course there are the more popular titles like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tristan, and Parzival when he learns of the Grail.

Some of my favorites from this edition are Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain. My absolutely favorite aspect in this edition is the addition of beautiful illustrations. Most of the illustrations are Medieval artwork. If there is one thing that I could add to this book, it is the Middle English language. I love learning about the Middle English language. I have a Chaucer book that had the Middle English on one side and the translation on the other. When I was in college I had to learn how to pronounce some of the language and have been fascinated with it ever since.

Anyway, I love this edition. 5 out of 5 stars.