#(at least with my limited knowledge of arthuriana) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

queer-ragnelle · 7 months ago

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the arthuriana essays you share on here are always so interesting and well-researched! are there specific places you go to look for them or do they just kind of find you over time?

Hi anon! This is a complex answer. Research is never simple lol obligatory disclaimer I'm just some random enthusiast and in no way an academic, this is just how I go about it.

I find essays in a variety of places. JSTOR is where most of the stand-alone essays came from (IE; not otherwise published in a book, sometimes in journals I cannot find). I’ve been very fortunate to have friends lend me their college bypass so I could download from there, as I would be unable to access them otherwise.

Sometimes, while reading books, like The Friend by Alan Bray, there will be a reference to an influential essay or article, such as Faithful Unto Death, which describes the joint tomb of Sir John Clanvowe and Sir William Neville. For that paper, a friend had to request it from their own institution, wait for it, and then give it to me. I'd been staring longingly at it for literally years but couldn't justify paying the $30+ asking price for a PDF. I was lucky, once again, to have help.

Another way to find these academic resources is by reading the footnotes or bibliography in the back of books and tracing the source of individual essays or articles back to a bigger collection contributed by a variety of authors contained in a single volume (like A Companion to Malory I shared a few days ago). I learned about Alan Bray specifically because other essayists kept referencing his work! From there, I sought him out. The same has happened as I delved into Zoroastrian studies. The literature there is limited (at least in the English language, as I cannot read Persian or Hindi). So I found myself researching in a circle, following the trail of names until I ran out of scholars and they just referenced each other's work back and forth. I had consumed the entire body of [English] literature on the subject, so I knew I had come to collect the same resources as these essayists and historians had! Once you start going, "Hey, it's my friend [scholar] again!" you know you're in deep haha!

Much the same has happened with Arthurian legend. Norris J Lacy, known for his work as head editor of the translation team that tackled the Vulgate, is everywhere. He's the editor of countless textbooks, translator of medieval poems and prose, and even wrote his own retelling, A Camelot Triptych. Once you find someone in a field of interest that pops up a lot, you can begin searching for relevant resources through their name, rather than relying on blindly sifting through thousands of papers tagged "King Arthur".

Essayists don't make any money on this stuff. Institutions even charge people to publish their work. It's perfectly acceptable to obtain that knowledge however necessary. If you don't have college access yourself nor a friend who can help, there are websites to pirate from. (Please use a VPN to protect yourself.) Some websites are specific to the field, like science, which isn't my expertise, so I can't offer guidance there. But I've had luck on annas-archive.

It can be easy to assume everyone has the same opportunities, that a screenshot or link to JSTOR is sufficient for someone to access the same information mentioned in a post. It's tough when tumblr doesn't let you upload a PDF! It makes sharing resources difficult. One could dedicate money and cloud space to it (like I do with Google and MEGA drive) or upload it to a discord server where it can't breach containment and reaches only a limited audience. It's not ideal! And it's no individual's responsibility to tackle the problems with academia and gatekeeping, of course, but my goal is to source as much of what I discuss as I possibly can, as well as share those resources with anyone who could benefit from them. A librarian basically lol so I'm glad the essays I've shared have been beneficial to you!

#arthuriana #arthurian legend #arthurian mythology #arthurian literature #research #resource #resources #ask #anonymous

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margridarnauds · 4 years ago

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One of the things I've learned about myself is that when I want to study myths, legends, and the related I do best when reading the story itself. And of course, reading many, many different translations of said story. So do you have any recommendations for reading books of the Arthurian legends, cycles, and various pieces parts a la "le mort d'arthur"?

Thank you! I don't do as much with Arthuriana (even though I've studied under one Arthurian scholar and I'm going to be studying under another, so I really should do better), BUT I can do the best I can, at least on the Welsh side of things, because I'm a Celticist and I'm going to try to prop up the Celtic material as best as I can, simply because the other material HAS plenty of representation elsewhere. (And I'm going to toss in a few favorites in for the hell of it.) I wish that I could represent the Breton, Cornish, and Scottish material better, but I don't have the linguistic expertise to cover that, at least not yet. It isn't being left out intentionally or lightly, nor as a matter of enforcing an agenda, but because I feel, earnestly, like it's better for me to admit my own limitations than to misrepresent such valuable traditions.

What I did, back when I was first getting into Irish Mythology, was that I would just dive into everything. I read voraciously, for hours on end, everything that I could get my hands on. Now, this had benefits and drawbacks - In many ways, I wasn't structured, but it also gave me a knowledge of a lot of obscure texts that even specialized Celticists didn't have, and that got me an in into the field. But, more to the point, what it means is that I can't really recommend what Arthurian texts to read first. Culwch ac Olwen is probably better if you want a linear reading experience, likewise for Peredur and Gereint. I'm fond of Ymdidan Melwas ac Gwenhwyfar myself - Just go for what looks best, see what you can come up with.

I've chosen, while compiling this, to ignore Myrddin entirely, simply because he comes, originally, from a different tradition and is his own thing - I don't feel like I could do him justice and I don't feel like I have enough expertise, though the Mary Jones site that many of these links link to contains a dedicated section on Myrddin and Taliesin.

Culwch ac Olwen [1] [2] (The Guest translation, in part 2, is quite old, but it's legible and it's free, both of which are lovely. Not what I'd recommend if you were going for your MA, but a nice start.)

Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain

Brenhin Urien a Modron - The story of how Owain came about.

Peredur

Gereint ac Enyd [1] - Interesting in that it appears to be a Welsh adaptation of a French story, using a Welsh Arthurian hero.

Eric and Enid - The French source (or cousin text) of Gereint ac Enyd

Breudwydd Rhonabwy (The Dream of Rhonabwy) (Again with the Guest translation.)

The Quarrel of Arthur and Huail, and the Death of Huail ap Caw - In Which Arthur Being A Thot Causes Him To Take A Blow To The Knee

Ymddiddan Arthur a'r Eryr - Dialogue between Arthur and the Eagle.

Trystan ac Essylt

Pa gwr yw y porthawr? - What Man Is The Gatekeeper? Not particularly gripping on its own, but interesting for the list of nights.

Marwnad Duran - Death of Duran, Arthur's son.

Ymdidan Melwas ac Gwenhwyfar [v1] [v2] - Dialogue of Melwas and Guinevere (Notable for being a Welsh take on the abduction episode that forms the backbone of the French Knight of the Cart, as well as for implying that Cei (Kay) is having an affair with Gwenhwyfar - A bit of a shock if you're used to Lancelot. (Or, for the villainfuckers, Mordred.)

Lancelot, Knight of the Cart - NOT Welsh, but you can see the "Helen motif" developing here. Arguably one of the foundational texts to our modern understanding of King Arthur, given that it establishes the love affair of Lancelot and Guinevere. (And we see a correspondence between the youthful, brazen Melwas and the French Maleagant.)

Death Song of Uther Pendragon

Trioedd Ynys Prydein - Not for the faint of heart (and, because the translation is so recent, not available for free online either), but a bounty of information that is otherwise ONLY attested in it. Not stories as such, more a collection of names in threes, containing some Arthurian references that appear, in at least a few situations, to refer to a tradition independent of Geoffrey of Monmouth (derogatory), though others might borrow from Geoffrey of Monmouth (derogatory) and as a result it's all a bit of a clusterfuck.

Geoffrey of Monmouth (derogatory) - Historia Regium Brittania [1] [2] (2 contains just the Arthurian references)

Claddedigaeth Arthur | The Burial of Arthur

Eachtra an Mhadra Mhaoil - One of the few Irish Arthurian romances. The link also contains the later Eachtra Mhacoimh-an-Iolair, which was only written down after 1600 (an Mhadra Mhaoil goes back as far as the 14th century, though more likely 15th.)

Scéla Muicce Meicc Da Thó - Now, this isn't an Arthurian tale, it dates to well before Arthuriana was imported to Ireland, BUT, if you're a fan of Sir Gawain, you'll notice some familiar beats, so it gets an honorary place at the (round) table.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Once again, I'm being forced to recommend Celtic Heroic Age, by John Koch and John Carey - It's a general source for ancient and medieval sources in Gaulish, Irish, and Welsh, but, inside it, you also have a good amount of the Welsh Arthurian material by scholars who are very well versed in it, much more than I am.

I'm also going to prop the following bibliographies, which contain more references to the material - Some of this has been translated and put online, some of it hasn't, but I'm always willing to hunt down individual texts. [1] [2] [3]

#arthuriana #long post

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