Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows that numerous existing studies of medievalism in the Enlightenment and Victorian periods by identifying more recent adaptations of the familiar Arthurian legend and by broadening the enquiry on the nature of the revival to include other medieval or Renaissance chivalric texts and the ways in which they have been adapted. It presents new considerations on certain modem adaptations of the Arthurian cycle narratives. The book analyses the discourse on medievalism to include non-Arthurian texts. The book explores the ways in which modem authors have absorbed and reshaped the Arthurian legends. It examines the role of the feminine in Arthurian re-tellings, Lee Tobin McClain interrogates Thomas Berger’s deflation of masculine chivalric ideals in his Arthur Rex. The book concludes with Myriam Swennen Ruthenberg’s considerations of Elsa Morante’s L’isola di Arturo.