The Arthurian Annals, The Tradition in English from 1250-2000 edited by Daniel P. Nastali and Philip C. Boardman (review)

REVIEWS77 both can only be so when they have been at best tweaked—ot at worst sanitized—for younger audiences. In the case ofTwain, such teimaginings often produce an example ofjuvenilia far removed from its source in tone, content, and intent. Cindy L. Vitto next surveys children's versions ofSir Gawain andthe Green Knight, a popular, though 'enigmatic' (107), source for Arthurian juvenilia and wonders why it has remained so popular in that form: '[B]ecause it tells the stoty ofa young knight's testing. . .? Because it links sex and danger, even death? Because it is...a family romance...? Because it upholds the value ofkeeping one's word ...?' (118—19). Raymond H. Thompson then turns to a broader discussion ofthe sense of'place' in Arthutian fiction for younger readers by writers such asWilliam Maync, E.M.R. Dirmas, Rosemary Manning, Gerald Morris, Jane Yolen, Anne McCaffrey, TH. White, and Rosemary Sutcliff. Charlotte Spivack offers a close reading ofSusan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising, nicely linked to Raymond Thompson's interview with Cooper that follows. Dan Nastali surveys Arthurian poetry and drama for children. Alan Lupack, who has previously chronicled Arthurian youth groups in America, here expands upon that earlier work with additional discussions of the efforts ofWilliam Byron Forbush. Jerome V. Reel, Jr., offers an overview of Arthurian music for children; Michael A. Torregrossa chronicles 'the return of King Arhur in the comics' (243), and Barbara Tepa Lupack concludes this admirable collection with an essay that adds to the on-going discussion ofcinema arthuriana by analyzing Arthurian film for children. Lupack's collection is a handsome, nicely illustrated, and carefully edited volume. Throughout, the discussions are clear and succinct, again attesting to her skills as an editor and scholar. Adapting the Arthurian Legendsfor Children makes an important addition to the growing number ofstudies designed to heighten our awareness of the ubiquity and multi-faceted nature ofthe legend ofthe once and future king. KEVIN J. HARTY La Salle University daniel p. nastali and Philip c. BOARDMAN, eds., TheArthurian Annals, The Tradition in Englishfrom 1250—2000. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 2 vols. Pp. 1,120. isbn: 0-19-860725-3. $450. Arthurian scholars and enthusiasts will forever be in Dan Nastali and Phil Boatdman's debt. A labot oflove and the product of more than twenty years ofexhaustive (and what must, at times, have been exhausting) research, The Arthurian Annals will long remain the major printed resource for information about the Arthurian tradition in English. The Annab is arranged chronologically, beginning c. 1250 with Layamon's Brut and ending in 2000 with Merlin: The Rock Opera with music by Fabio Zuffanti and story and lyrics by Victoria Howard using 'incidents from Geoffrey ofMonmouth' (1. 809). Entties follow a standard format beginning (when known) with the name ofan author, the title ofthe work, a briefpublication history, and annotations that provide, to quote the editors, 'a concise description of the work and its Atthurian content with additional information about other relevant matters: the author's intentions where known, Arthurian sources and influences, the social or literary 78ARTHURIANA significance of the work, and description of any other special aspect of the wotk such as notable illustrations' (l.xx). This extremely reader-friendly resource also provides abundant cross references. While some may balk at the price of The Annab—and it is to be hoped that Oxford will issue a less expensive edition in paperback—it really is a massive undertaking. Volume one, running more than 800 oversized pages with triple columns of text, includes a preface by Norris J. Lacy, a list of acknowledgments, details about the authors and the consultants to the project, guidelines for using The Annab, a table ofabbreviations, and the entries themselves. These entries cover Arthurian art, children's literature, comics, drama (broadly defined), editions and translations of medieval works, esotérica (New Age and otherwise), fiction, films, history and folklore, music, poetry, and television. Volume two, running more than an additional 250 pages, contains the indexes to the annals proper, again on oversize pages with triple columns oftext. Even allowing for the sorting features ofincreasingly sophisticated word processing programs, the indexes in volume two—by...