Originally published in 1988, this volume contains papers from, and commissioned after, "The Passing of Arthur", a conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies in November 1986. No Arthurian story is experienced without some foreknowledge of its end, which the text acknowledges through a complex range of methods. This collection takes this as its point of origin, suggesting that all such narratives concern the passing of Arthur, even indirectly, so the chapters not only look at the death of Arthur but the passing on and development of the Arthurian literature. The figure of Arthur and the Round Table continues to fascinate contemporary readers. This interesting collection presents a wide range of Arthurian studies approaches representing some of the vast scholarship on the genre.

Preface Introduction Part 1: Arthur in Medieval France 1. Life in La Mort le roi Artu Charles Méla 2. The King's Sin: The Origins of the David-Arthur Parallel M. Victoria Guerin 3. Desire, Meaning, and the Female Reader: The Problem in Chrétien's Charrete Roberta L. Krueger 4. Aspects of Arthur's Death in Medieval Illumination M. Alison Stones Appendix: Survey of Manuscripts Illustrating Arthur's Death Part 2: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 5. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The Passing of Judgment Marie Borroff 6. Leaving Morgan Aside: Women, History, and Revisionism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sheila Fisher 7. The "Syngne of Surfet" and the Surfeit of Signs in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight R. Allen Shoaf Part 3: Spenser's Arthur 8. The Passing of Arthur in Malory, Spenser, and Shakespeare: The Avoidance of Closure A. Kent Hieatt 9. Arthur, Argante, and the Ideal Vision: An Exercise in Speculation and Parody Judith Anderson 10. "Beauties Chace": Arthur and Women in The Faerie Queen Sheila T. Cavanagh Part 4: The Pastness of Arthur in the Victorian Era 11. Tennyson and the Passing of Arthur John D. Rosenberg 12. Ideological Battleground: Tennyson, Morris, and the Pastness of the Past Jonathan Freedman 13. Victorian Spellbinders: Arthurian Women and the Pre-Raphaelite Circle Carole Silver 14. The Last Idyll: Dozing in Avalon William E. Fredeman Appendix: Survey of Arthurian Subjects in Victorian Art