From Camelot to Obamalot

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This collection of twelve essays is divided into two parts, with six focusing on medieval and six on modern Arthurian literature. The medieval essays explore general topics in Arthurian literature and historiography, beginning with the typology of romance (essay 1). Essays 2, 3, and 4 examine the interplay between historiography (historia) and fiction (fabula), analyzing appropriate rhetorical strategies and resulting literary structures, including responses to Chrétien’s model plot. Essay 5 investigates the forms of the wondrous—monstrous, mysterious, magical, and miraculous—in the Middle English Gawain romances. Essay 6 links the medieval analysis to modern narratives by exploring the Queste del Saint Graal and Malory’s Tale of the Sankgreal in relation to choice, setting the stage for modern interpretations of the Grail and its quest. The modern essays begin with an exploration of Galahad's fortunes (essay 7) and the Grail's conception in 19th- and 20th-century English literature (essay 8). Essays 9 and 10 address Utopian and dystopian themes in contemporary German plays and Anglo-American Arthurian fiction. Essay 11 discusses imperialism in Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, while essay 12 examines Arthurian myth, including hero conception and the golden age. All modern essays are connected to medieval themes, demonstrating the continuity of topics in Arthurian literature.