ten most important books
A while back, truepenny and Mirrorthaw and I were talking about books over dinner (...yeah, there's a surprise) and Mirrorthaw brought up the notion of one's own Ten Most Important Books. Not favorite books, or best books, but the most important. Truepenny pointed out that such a list requires not only picking the most important books but deciding what "
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a few chapters of Gildas' Ruin of Britain, trans. Winterbottom
a few chapters (skipping the St. Germanus stuff) of Nennius' British History, trans. Morris
the relevant page from the Welsh Annals at the back of the Nennius
Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, trans. Thorpe
Chrétien's Knight of the Cart, trans. Owen in Arthurian Romances
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trans. Borroff
two weeks' worth of Malory's Morte Darthur, ed. Cooper (she modernizes spelling somewhat, which helps reading speed; she also excises bits, but since I had to excise more bits I decided that was okay)
Morris's "Defence of Guenevere"
Tennyson's Idylls: "Dedication," "Coming of Arthur," "Pelleas and Ettarre," "Guinevere," "To the Queen"
most of White's OaFK (hated cutting it down, but I love the earlier texts more and didn't want to remove one or rush the reading pace unduly)
the last chapter of his Book of Merlyn
John M. Ford's "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station" as a treat for the last day of class--by then the students can understand and appreciate it, which works well as a benchmark for them
If I taught this as a syllabus ending with Malory, there would be translated Welsh, German, and maybe a bit of Norse in it, and something from the French Vulgate cycle. If one began with Malory, I guess one would add bits of Spenser to offset the sheer bulk of modern and contemporary work that begs to be included. I'm not clear on what else there is in between, aside from Dryden and whatsit. There's a fairly recent book that discusses immediately pre-Tennyson Arthurian texts, but few of those are readily accessible (and this *is* composition, not an upper-div or grad survey). *rummages* Roger Simpson, Camelot Regained (Boydell, 1990).
Would you teach Mists, d'you think, if you were to put together any sort of Arthurian class? Aside from its length and my allergy, I can see reasons to do so, but I'm curious what you think--and if so, what would you put with it? (Arthurian material isn't my field either, technically, so no pressure is meant by the question.)
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I can't imagine myself teaching an Arthurian class, honestly; I just don't have enough background in stuff before 1700. I *can* imagine myself doing an Arthurian section in a class organized more broadly around contemporary retellings of old stories (e.g. King Lear and A Thousand Acres, assorted fairy tales, in addition to the stuff I'm covering in the diss), in which case I would love to teach Mists of Avalon. The length might be prohibitive, though, especially since I'd also love to do Once and Future King (I like the idea of examining *multiple* contemporary versions).
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My syllabus was pretty similar to the early part of yours - a bit of background historical / archaeological material, a session on Wace (comparing his "translation" to Geoffrey), a couple of Chretien's romances ("Yvain", I think, and "Perceval" instead of "Lancelot"), Robert de Boron on the Grail, and a chunk of the Vulgate.
If I were putting together a course on contemporary recensions - ooh, tricky, and I don't really know how much you can ask students to read. But if I were making a list for our pleasure, I'd suggest Rosemary Sutcliff ("Sword at Sunset" definitely, and - more obliquely - "The Lantern Bearers") and Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy. I didn't much like "The Mists of Avalon", but it has its place in a comparative study. And - to be really up to the minute, Gwyneth Jones's "Bold as Love" and "Castles made of Sand". This could be one fun course!
Jean
jean@shadowgallery.co.uk
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