Temporal Circumstances: Form and History in the Canterbury Tales (The New Middle Ages Series) Book

I thought these companions were rather academic. My wife (B.A. English Literature) had one for one of her classes. I was pleasantly surprised that at the very least this volume seems to be mostly written for the general public.
The first half of it is a very conventional and easy to follow "Arthur through the ages" beginning with the historical sources (Nennius, Gildas…), and ending with "Merlin e familia", which, contrarily to what Prof. Lacy says, is written in Galician. Each of these chapters is an excellent entry point to the different periods and their major works (Sir Gawain, Malory…) and function very well as a "what-to-read next" list. That is particularly true of the last two chapters of this section: post-medieval Arthur, and The Arthur of the 20th and 21st centuries respectively. I am not sure I ever read Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee…", but I will certainly do it after this. It has also been very pleasant to see that most of the contributors seem to have both my dearly beloved Monty Python, and the still unread Marion Zimmer Bradley in high regard. Academic might be, but not obtusely highbrow.
The second half of the book explores different themes. The only exception to what I have previously said is the chapter on Ethics, I think it was too technical for me'which proves how inadequate moral education is these days. The rest are not only informative, but thoroughly enjoyable. I think Andrew Lynch has a rather elastic definition of Imperialism that includes everything that is wrong in the world'as opposed to the highest state of capitalism 'but that is all criticism I can make. I particularly liked Elizabeth Archibald's "Questioning Arthurian ideals", showing that one can like the source material, and still make fun of it, and because I am a gamer, Robert Allen Rouse and Cory James Rushton's "Arthurian Geography."
The authors and editors did such a good job that I am already reading another literary theory book. More importantly for the publishers is that I am no longer afraid of this companion volumes, so I will probably end up reading a few if ever feel the need to broaden my horizon between broadside and broad sword'I am not sure that really worked.