Susan Aronstein

"Whether discussing how the figure of Arthur was appropriated by Welsh lords to justify acts of rebellions or by English kings to support a centralized monarchy, Aronstein subtly and intelligently recognizes complex interrelationships between history and art."--Martin Shichtman, Eastern Michigan University "A must-have for all those interested in King Arthur--from the amateur enthusiast to the established scholar."--Dorsey Armstrong, Purdue University The legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table permeate our culture: we find them in novels, movie parodies, and even the American government. Yet beneath and before it all lies a deep literary tradition that has influenced history, art, and culture over the centuries. Examining the legend at its very source, An Introduction to British Arthurian Narrative covers over 400 years and discusses a broad range of romances, histories, and parodies written about King Arthur in Britain during the medieval period. The modern Anglo-American version of the Arthurian tale stems from Sir Thomas Malory's fifteenth-century compendium Le Morte D'Arthur, which was written at the end of the tale's first period of widespread popularity, which began in the early twelfth century. Susan Aronstein demonstrates that, as Arthur's transformation from a "leader of battles" in early histories, to a powerful chieftain in Welsh tales, and, finally, into England's "once and future king," at every point, these tales reflected the ongoing contest for sovereignty over the island of Britain--and the very definition of "British." Susan Aronstein, professor of English at the University of Wyoming, is the author of Hollywood Knights: Arthurian Cinema and the Politics of Nostalgia as well as numerous articles on medieval and modern Arthurian narratives.

An Introduction to British Arthurian Narrative

Tison Pugh

For many, the middle ages depicted in Walt Disney movies have come to figure as the middle ages, forming the earliest visions of the medieval past for much of the contemporary Western (and increasingly Eastern) imagination. The essayists of The Disney Middle Ages explore Disney's mediation and re-creation of a fairy-tale and fantasy past, not to lament its exploitation of the middle ages for corporate ends, but to examine how and why these medieval visions prove so readily adaptable to themed entertainments many centuries after their creation. What results is a scrupulous and comprehensive examination of the intersection between the products of the Disney Corporation and popular culture's fascination with the middle ages.

A Fairy-Tale and Fantasy Past

The Disney Middle Ages

This fascinating collection explores America's appropriations and fabrications of the Middle Ages, revealing the nation's complicated love affair with a past it never had, but has created from history and imagination.

United States of Medievalism

Kent Drummond

Terri L. Rittenburg

The Road to Wicked examines the long life of the Oz myth. It is both a study in cultural sustainability— the capacity of artists, narratives, art forms, and genres to remain viable over time—and an examination of the marketing machinery and consumption patterns that make such sustainability possible. Drawing on the fields of macromarketing, consumer behavior, literary and cultural studies, and theories of adaption and remediation, the authors examine key adaptations and extensions of Baum’s 1900 novel. These include the original Oz craze, the MGM film and its television afterlife, Wicked and its extensions, and Oz the Great and Powerful—Disney’s recent (and highly lucrative) venture that builds on the considerable success of Wicked. At the end of the book, the authors offer a foundational framework for a new theory of cultural sustainability and propose a set of explanatory conditions under which any artistic experience might achieve it.

The Marketing and Consumption of Oz from L. Frank Baum to Broadway

The Road to Wicked

"The Disney Middle Ages: A Fairy-Tale and Fantasy Past examines the intersection between the products of the Walt Disney Company and popular culture's fascination with the Middle Ages. The Disney Middle Ages have come, for many, to figure as the Middle Ages, forming the earliest visions of the medieval past for much of the contemporary western (and increasingly eastern) imaginary. The Disney Middle Ages explores Disney's accounts of the Middle Ages and their political and cultural ramifications, analyzing how these re-creations of a fairy-tale history function in modern society"--

Susan Aronstein

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