Stimulating and masterly study examines the evolution of the great mass of fiction surrounding the Arthurian legend in Western literature -- from Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain and the collection of Welsh tales known as The Mabinogion, to Chretien de Troyes' Arthurian stories, the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach, and such English masterpieces as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Le Morte d'Arthur. Painstakingly researched and brimming with scholarly insight, this highly readable and entertaining work will be a favorite with general audiences as well as scholars and students of the Arthurian legend.