Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Rio de los Brazos de Dios
Posts: 3876

Yes I know the book was written and published in 1986 but I was busy then and missed a lot of good books---amid them this one. Dr. Goodrich is a phililogist and graduate of the Universities of Paris and Grenoble and holds a PhD degree from Columbia University in French and Romance Philology.She is a captivating writer and in this book sets out to study the agreement of the many stories and myths that surround England's King Arthur and to determine if he was a historic charactier, a creation of folklore
or the central figure of a mythic cult. She decides firmly on the historicity of King Arthur and ascribes most of the conflicts between various versions of Arthur's life to simple mistranslations of sources by Geoffrey of Monmouth and Chretien
de Troyes. Simple things like an old Latin manuscript saying Arthur was from "armonica" (Latin for North Wales) which Geoffrey translated as being "Armorica" (Latin for Brittany in France).

I won't ruin the story for you but if you are an Arthur buff go back and read this book by Dr. Goodrich if you missed it. She goes into the historicity of Arthur, Guinevere, Galahad, Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval. Uther Pendragon, Ygerne, Urien and all the other characters. ,Now I must read her book "Merlin"

She convinced me about King Arthur and her boo0k is a delightful read. nMade me wish I had been a Philologist.

__________________

[Ignore Sig]

oxsan


Don't kick until yer spurred.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 4501

Ah, I am an Arthur buff. I'll have to ask my favorite professor about this book as well--she taught an Arthurian Literature class back a few summers ago. Fascinating on all levels.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged