The Round Table

Abstract

The Round Table MODERATED by Deborah Everhart The RoundTable, anewsegmentofArthuriana, provides aforum forcurrent questions and developments in our field. As a pioneering venture, this forum will change as the field changes, developing according to the contributions and suggestions ofreaders. As moderator/editor ofthis forum, I envision a number ofpossibilities. For example, the RoundTable will provide brief'state ofthe topic' segments, summaries ofthe best new work published (or otherwise 'made public') in the past year on a given topic. The Round Table will also provide announcements, reviews, and summaries of new scholarly and pedagogical resources as they become available. Beyond these relatively traditional uses ofprint publication to review and promote other print publications, I envision the Round Table as a forum for moderating between print and electronic scholarship. The Round Table will provide announcements, reviews, and summaries ofscholarlyandpedagogical electronic resources. In addition, an important bridge between print and electronic developments has already been created through the unique collaborative relationship betweenArthurianaandArthurNet, a newly-founded electronic discussion group for scholars and students of Arthurian subjects from the early Middle Ages to the present moment. The Round Table will support this collaborative relationship by providing summaries ofdiscussions that take place on ArthurNet. These summaries will offer a brief look at developments in our field as they unfold in the fast-paced Internet world, providing a useful overview for subscribers and non-subscribers alike. In this issue, the Round Table focuses on ArthurNet, its foundation, and ts recent history ofdiscussions. Arthuriana 4.1 (1994) 70 The Round Table ArthurNet: The Beginning ArthurNet was founded last October by Bonnie Wheeler and myselfas a collaborative venture between this new electronic discussion group and Arthuriana. We have received extensive technical support from Andrew Draskoy at Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland, and we extend our thanks to Andrew and to Memorial University for providing an electronic home for the list on a server called (coincidentally) Morgan. ArthurNet is dedicated to scholarly discussions in all fields ofArthurian studies, from literature and history to mythology and philosophy, and in the several languages pertinent to theArthurian story. We currently have over 370 subscribers from all over the world, and new subscriptions come in daily. ArthurNet has flourished in the five months since its inception, providing a forum for open discussions on a wide variety oftopics summarized below. In addition to open discussions on topics and questions posted to the list in an unstructured fashion, the list also provides a venue for organized, moderated discussions. List subscribers are welcome to propose topics for moderated discussions; once adiscussion has been approved andscheduled bythe listowner, a formal topic proposal is posted to the list, and the moderator comments on postings, directs participants' questions and contributions, and shapes the discussion as it evolves. At the close ofthe discussion, the moderator summarizes the material, giving credit to the appropriate participants. Summaries of ArthurNet moderated discussions will be posted to the list and included here, in the RoundTable forum. To date, Mark Hall ofthe UniversityofCalifornia, Berkeley, has moderatedadiscussion on the HistoricalArthur' andAlan Lupack ofRochester University has moderated a discussion on 'Arthur in America,' which will appear in a special issue oíArthuriana devoted to this topic. To subscribe to ArthurNet, send the command 'sub arthurnet [your name]' as an e-mail message to listserver@morgan.ucs.mun.ca Recent History of Discussions, October 1993 through February 1994 The first posting on the list was a query from Bill Schipper, wondering about the current state of scholarship concerning the historicity of Arthur (Oct. 18). This got our discussions off to a rolling start since a number of people responded to this query from different perspectives. JeffreyCohen noted that 'the question ofArthur's historicity isn't nearlyso interesting as historizing Arthur,' asking our students and ourselves 'why we feel obsessed with the question ofhow much history is behind the king'(Oct. 19). Bonnie Wheeler coupledJeffrey's theoretical stance with a reference to newwork that has been Arthuriana done in this area, pointing out that the search for a historical author 'has spurred some of the most exciting work in recent archeology ofpost-Roman Britain, as well as new glances into 5th-7th century texts. The "historicizing" ofArthur is a...