Customer Reviews

The New Arthurian Encyclopedia: Updated Paperback Edition (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities)

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If you are serious about studying the Arthurian legends, you need this book. If you have no other reference work, this should be the one on your shelf. Lacy & Co. deserve heaps of praise on their heads for this volume! It covers aspects of the legends themselves in differing countries and in different eras. It covers art work. It covers music. It covers particular characters. It covers theories relating to the backgrounds to the legends, both historical and folklorical. The entries are readable, clear, and give lots of information so that you can follow up on any given topic. I cannot praise this book enough! Every library should have a copy (including many personal libraries...).

This is the new, updated edition of The New Arthurian Encyclopedia published in hardcover in 1991. As with the older version, it provides more than 500 new entries that cannot be found in the 1986 Arthurian Encyclopedia. The update also contains a 40-page section compiling the various addendums that have appeared in The Arthurian Yearbook since 1991. It is disappointing to note, however, that these new items were not incorporated into the main work.

Arranged alphabetically, the Encyclopedia remains the most invaluable reference resource for the Arthurian Legend. Each entry is written and signed by a scholar of Arthurian studies, and is followed, where necessary, by a short bibliography. The index is much easier to use than the one in the original volume. A must have for any collection.

This work's primary selling point is that it's very complete. And its biggest drawback is that . . . it's very complete. There's more material in this volume than you can ever put to use. You come away from a straight read feeling overwhelmed, and you come away from a skimming or a search by subject feeling like you missed something. Still, if you're looking for specific material on something relating to King Arthur, this is probably your best bet. If you're looking to be entertained by the Arthurian story, buy yourself a copy of The Once And Future King.