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King Arthur and the Grail Quest: Myth and Vision from Celtic Times to the Present
Describes the historical Arthur and the origins of the Grail legends.
160 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1995
About the author
John Matthews
389 books186 followersJohn Matthews is an historian, folklorist and author. He has been a full time writer since 1980 and has produced over ninety books on the Arthurian Legends and Grail Studies, as well as short stories and a volume of poetry. He has devoted much of the past thirty years to the study of Arthurian Traditions and myth in general. His best known and most widely read works are ‘Pirates’ (Carlton/Atheneum), No 1 children’s book on the New York Times Review best-seller list for 22 weeks in 2006, ‘The Grail, Quest for Eternal Life’ (Thames & Hudson, 1981) ‘The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom’ (Element, 1994) and ‘The Winter Solstice’ (Quest Books, 1999) which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for that year. His book ‘Celtic Warrior Chiefs’ was a New York Public Library recommended title for young people.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 13, 2017
7/10
I enjoyed finding out how each part of both the Arthur legend and the grail legend developed and when and how. Interesting read.
I also like the fictional stories in between each chapter, but I can imagine those are not for everyone, especially reading a non-fiction book.
The illustrations are too scattered to shed any light, but they do break up the text.
I enjoyed finding out how each part of both the Arthur legend and the grail legend developed and when and how. Interesting read.
I also like the fictional stories in between each chapter, but I can imagine those are not for everyone, especially reading a non-fiction book.
The illustrations are too scattered to shed any light, but they do break up the text.
August 28, 2023
A mix of scholarly work and storytelling. It doesn't get too in depth but makes for a good introduction to the Arhturian grail mythos.
July 3, 2016
This is quite a good basic introduction to the Arthurian mythos even if the author has insisted on interpolating his own creative writing (not to my taste and rather overblown) and story illustrations more suitable for a children's book.
There is a lot of sensible information and interpretation here and the book might be a good gift to a bright teenager who wants to know more of a story that provides one of the great themes in Western culture. This is a book written by a man who loves his subject yet maintains his critical faculties.
April 26, 2014
Had both a scholarly element and a kids storybook element, and both were fun. The ordering was a little off, it would sometimes have pictures for stories that were several pages ahead, and it would launch into esoteric academic debates about particulars without giving the basic background information (who found the grail first, etc.)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews