The Cambridge Companion

For more than a thousand years, the adventures of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table have been retold across Europe. They have inspired some of the most important works of European literature, particularly in the medieval period: the romances of Chrétien de Troyes, Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. In the nineteenth century, interest in the Arthurian legend revived with Tennyson, Wagner and Twain. This Companion outlines the evolution of the legend from the earliest documentary sources to Spamalot, and analyses how some of the major motifs of the legend have been passed down in both medieval and modern texts. With a map of Arthur's Britain, a chronology of key texts and a guide to further reading, this volume itself will contribute to the continuing fascination with the King and his many legends.

This Companion addresses the work of women playwrights in Britain throughout the twentieth century. Chapters explore the historical and theatrical contexts in which women have written for the theater and examine the work of individual playwrights such as Caryl Churchill, Pam Gems, and Timberlake Wertenbaker. The volume brings together a transatlantic team of feminist theater scholars and practitioners. A chronological section on playwriting from the 1920s to the 1970s is followed by chapters that raise issues of nationality and identity. Later sections question accepted notions of the canon and include chapters on nonmainstream writing, including black and lesbian performance.

This Companion serves both as an introduction for the interested reader, and as a source of the best recent scholarship on the author and his works. In addition to analyzing his major texts, these chapters provide insight on Hemingway's relationship with gender history, journalism, fame, and the political climate of the 1930s. Contributors include both the most distinguished established figures and brilliant newcomers, all chosen with regard to the clarity and readability of their prose.