Chronicles of King Arthur

by Andrea Hopkins

Book Overview

An illustrated compendium of Arthurian legend draws on the romance masterpieces of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Chre+a7tien de Troyes, and Sir Thomas Malory to recount the myths of Arthur and his knights of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670852325
• ISBN13: 9780670852321
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Avery Publishing Group
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.8" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

One of the Most Elegant Books of Arthurian Lore Available

This book is a wonderful resource for both those who are new to the myths of King Arthur and those who are already students of Arthurian lore. I wish I had known about CHRONICLES OF KING ARTHUR when I was struggling through the original Middle English version of Malory's LE MORTE D'ARTHUR. Andrea Hopkins has a scholar's pedigree but writes without the usual scholarly dryness. Gathered from the definitive medieval sources, she presents a cohesive and easy-to-follow retelling of the basic Arthurian legends. Her prose smoothly incorporates the work of several different authors into the individual tales, and the stories are told in refreshingly simple manner that still exudes a sense of wonder while providing the reader with a clear understanding of the events. The chronicles themselves are divided into three parts: the birth of King Arthur and his rise to power, the golden age of his reign, and his decline and death. The numerous smaller episodes of Arthur and his knights within the cycle are then further separated into helpfully titled mini-chapters. The text is punctuated with a large number of beautiful illustrations taken from illuminated manuscripts, paintings, and earlier printed books, and the sidebars provide insights into various aspects of the stories as well as relevant historical facts. There is also a short list of the principal characters at the end of the book. The binding is excellent -- sewn rather than glued, which is rare nowadays -- and should hold up well. My only complaint is the lack of an index. An index would have made this book more valuable as a reference source. But it is still highly recommended in spite of this.

An Excellent and Useful Work

This book performs a service, much needed: it gives a coherent account of the "King Arthur" stories. The author goes through the massive relevant literature-romances and poems in middle and early modern English, and in various vintages of several other languages-to arrive at a reasonably balanced narrative that gathers all the main characters and the principal tales associated with them. Now, there are probably thousands of stories that impinge on this early constellation of narratives, and more that arise every year in tribute to the perennial fascination of those bright initial inventions. But it is these core stories that are the important ones, just as are the core stories of the Bible, and some few of the Greek myths, as basic cultural equipment.This is a pleasant book to read, by a scholar, but not "scholarly". It is a medium-format glossy with many paintings and drawings by pre-Raphaellites like Beardsley and Burne-Jones that enhance the romance and magic that is so much of the appeal of the stories. There are wide margins to hold the occasional explanatory sidebar, as well as boxes convenient to--but out of the way of--the narrative flow, that discuss the bigger topics . Each of the stories is smoothly presented, with a seamless (but indicated) transition from Andrea Hopkin's connecting narratives to passages using the actual words (rendered into modern English) of the principal teller of the tale at hand, be it Chrétien, or Geoffrey, or some anonymous medieval writer. More than one writer may contribute his bit to a particular story, but the connecting material keeps the telling coherent and compact. This technique gives us a bit of a sense of the corporate authorship of these "legends", and some of the flavor of the individual style-especially Mallory's, whose words can be presented to us almost as they were written. This book does, I think, succeed admirably, but I object to the lack of index. There is a list of the principal characters, and a glossary, but neither of these is cross-referenced by page number to the text. This book is not, strictly speaking, a work of fiction (tradition frowns upon indexing fiction!), though its "facts" happen to be the fictions of other writers. It deserves and requires an index. If it survives to a subsequent edition that repairs this lack, it will deserve a five-star rating.

Very nice

Andrea Hopkins combines many of the best arthurian romances into this book, a "must" have for those interested in the legends of the round table. Sidebars tell you facts that you probly didnt know, about the different authers, places, and things in the book, if you are a first time or a veteran reader this is a good choice.

If you get one book about King Arthur, make it this one!

The more one reads about King Arthur, the more one realizes that there isn't just ONE legend of King Arthur, but probably hundreds. Each one has its own plot twists and heroes. Andrea Hopkins book takes the most prevalent texts and weaves them into a single tapestry, rich in detail. When texts are quoted directly, the original is noted in the margin. Sidebars contain complete treatments of subjects such as the Round Table, Sir Lancelot, Excalibur, etc. and how the legend changed from author to author, country to country. Easy to read with gorgeous illustrations, it's a must read for King Arthur fans, whether it's your first Arthur book or you hundredth