Fantasy, Fiction and Welsh Myth: Tales of Belonging Kath Filmer-Davies (review)

Il8ARTHURIANA it is good to have some classic scenes from medieval romances represented, such as Lancelot Riding in the Cart and the first kiss between Lancelot and Guinevere. Likewise, some classics ofmodern illustration, Aubrey Beardsley's depiction ofTristram drinking the love potion and Crane's representation of Galahad being presented to Arthur, for example, have also been added to the second edition. Ofcourse, everyone will be able to name illustrators or artists or individual works that are not represented— Howard PyIe, N. C. Wyeth, Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, and George FrederickWatts's Sir Galahadspring to mind. There will necessarily be omissions in a handbook: it is the nature of the beast. Selection—or rather omission—is one of the most difficult tasks the authors ofsuch a work face; and although everyone will have some favorite that has been omitted, the authors ofthis book have selected judiciously and presented many of the images one would like to see in such a volume. Other enhancements to the volume are as welcome as the additional illustrations. Particularly useful for students will be the genealogies. Providing Arthur's genealogy according to three different sources—Geoffrey ofMonmouth, Malory, and the French Vulgate Merlin—helps to underscore the variety of versions of the Arthurian story and is a useful reminder to students seeking the one true account ofArthur's life that there is no such thing. Also of use to the student are some of the 'boxes and sidebars' (a distinction that is not entirely clear) that the editors have added to the text. It is helpful to have brief summary definitions of terms like chivalry and courtly love, though one would like to have seen mote of topics such as these and less ofthe brief comments on incidents from the legend such as Arthur's departure for Avalon or his pulling of the sword from the stone. More interesting than these briefsummaries of one version of the story is the long box on the Grail. Running for three and a half pages, it gives briefquotations from eleven different sources and demonstrates a wide variety of approaches from Chrétien to Monty Python. One other feature of the second edition that is worth noting is the updating and expansion of the bibliography. There are important additions to every subcategory; and while the bibliography is still highly selective, it, like the text and illustrations, has been improved in this version. Compiling a handbook on a topic as vast and multi-faceted as the Arthurian legends is a task as difficult as those given to Culhwch by Ysbaddaden. Lacy, Ashe, and Mancoffhave managed the task and made it look easier than it is. In revising the original edition, the authors have wisely chosen to enhance rather than change. The result is that it is even more useful, especially for students, than the first edition. ALAN LUPACK University of Rochester ?at? filmer-davies, Fantasy, Fiction and Wehh Myth: Tales ofBelonging. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. Pp. 177, notes and index, isbn: 0-312-15927-7. $49.95 (cloth). In a recent essay in Medievalism, The Year's Workfor 1991 (ed. Michael Rewa, 1996), Frank Doden recounts a conversation with a critic 'who suggested that there are two kinds ofmedievalists: christians who endeavor to show that medieval English literature reveals christian "truths," that Christianity ennobled the pagan populace and its arts; REVIEWS119 and atheists, who strive to show that Christianity ravaged pagan culture and literature...' (p. 112). In the chapters likely to be of greatest interest to readers of Arthuriana, Arthurian Novels and the Spirit ofWelsh Place,' and 'The Film Hero and Welsh Mythology,' Professor Filmer-Davies reveals herself to be a medievalist of the former sort. At the end of the chapter on Arthurian novels, for instance, she argues that Welsh hiraeth (the intense longing to return to the ancestral homeland— the primary 'belonging' of the book's subtitle) has a universal, mythic significance: Perhaps we can call it Wales, but it is a spirituai Wales: perhaps it is Avalon or even heaven. But when we sec it, we will probably give it names ofour own; because it will be for us all we have wanted it to...