The Arthurian Companion: The Legendary World of Camelot and the Round Table (Pendragon fiction) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

The Arthurian Companion is the result of Karr's research in the original sources of the legends of King Arthur, including Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, the romances of Chrétien de Troyes, and the French Vulgate Version of the Arthurian Romances. The majority of the book consists of over a thousand encyclopedic entries. All of the major and most of the minor characters mentioned in the sources are discussed, with references to where they appear in the texts. Places, from Camelot to Karadigan, and objects such as the Grail can also be found among the entries. Karr's summaries of each item are concise but nicely detailed, giving a well-rounded idea of the importance of the character, place, or object in the body of legend.

Besides the encyclopedic entries, the book includes some useful and interesting appendices. Many of these are essays on the cultural backdrop of the legends: "Arthurian Classes and Roles," "Holding Court," "Knighthood and Knight-errantry," or "Relations between Knights and Ladies," to name a few. Others are of a statistical nature: "A Tentative Chronology of Arthur's Reign," a list of all the known "Knights of the Round Table," "Time and Dates." There is even a map of Britain with speculated locations for many of the places mentioned in the legends. There is also a listing of the book divisions of Le Morte d'Arthur, with a one-line summary of the contents of each book. Within the encyclopedia portion of The Arthurian Companion, the entries for many of the knights include an illustration of that knight's coat of arms, taken from a medieval manuscript.

It would probably not be, by itself, the best introduction to the Matter of Britain for a reader unfamiliar with all things Arthurian. However, The Arthurian Companion makes an excellent resource for anyone who knows a little about Arthur and wishes to know more. Classes studying Malory or Chrétien will find it an invaluable aid for keeping all the names straight, as would anyone reading Arthurian works for their personal enjoyment. Writers making use of the Arthurian legends in their work can also benefit from the book's thorough and well-organized information. In short, I would heartily recommend it to anyone who takes an interest in the stories of King Arthur.

Not only is Karr very discriptive, but very often she includes other possible theories or stories behind any subject of inquiry (as well as alternate spellings). Within these pages, a reader will find important family trees, easy to follow lists of a person's family and relations, and a detailed geographical map of King Arthur's Britain - which reveals locations of cities, castles, territories, and forests. This amazing encyclopedia even contains color-coded pictures of the shields of most every King, Queen, Lord, Duke, Knight, etc. found in Arthurian tales. Her sources are mainly the works of Malory and the Vulgate, though there are numerous other references as well.

FOR THE ARTHURIAN AMATEUR, THIS IS AN EXCELLENT SOURCE. I literally carried it around with me while I was engaged in reading the Merlin Trilogy of Mary Stewart and The Once and Future King by T. H. White. It eased the pain of my Arthurian ignorance a great deal. With the Arthurian Companion, I have almost all my questions answered immediately.