From Camelot to Obamalot: Essays on Medieval and Modern Arthurian Literature (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: From Camelot to Obamalot: Essays on Medieval and Modern Arthurian Literature Kevin J. Harty Joerg O. Fichte , From Camelot to Obamalot: Essays on Medieval and Modern Arthurian Literature. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, 2010. Pp. 202. ISBN: 978-3-86821-256-3. £24.50. You can't tell a book by its cover, nor, it would seem, by its title. This intriguingly titled volume is simply a collection of a dozen essays in English by the author, eleven originally published, some in German and some in English, in collections of essays by diverse hands—and, in one case, in Connotations—since 1991. The final essay, from which the volume takes its title, is partially devoted to a brief frenzy in the American and foreign press once Caroline Kennedy endorsed then-candidate Barack Obama for president which speculated that an Obama presidency would usher in a new Camelot and worthy successor to her father's brief time in office. Six essays discuss medieval Arthuriana; six, modern. The usefulness of this slim and somewhat expensive paperback volume depends upon how valuable the reader finds a collection of a dozen essays in English by Professor Fichte on topics such as Arthurian verse romance, twelfth-century Arthurian history, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the death of Arthur, Middle English Gawain romances, the relationship between the Queste del Saint Graal and Malory, Galahad's depiction in modern Arthurian literature, the Grail in contemporary American fiction, the world of the Round Table in contemporary German drama, utopian and dystopian elements in Anglo-American Arthurian fiction in the last two centuries, and Tennyson's Idylls. [End Page 128] Kevin J. Harty La Salle University Copyright © 2012 Arthuriana