running head163 her. The claim Chrétien makes elsewhere for his art ofconjointure still seems valid here:howeverpuzzling thejoinings—Christian andArthurian elements, two heroes, mothers and sons, etc.—we are obliged to desi with the conjunctions. SargentBaur herselfpoints out how this romances title, unlike all the others in Chretien's corpus, forces our attention beyond the identity ofthe hero to the enigma ofa dish, whose mysterious connection with the bleeding lance appears to join the two parts without yet explaining them. Ultimately then I find Ssrgent-Bsur's resding unsatisfying because so much of the unfinished romsnce hss not come into view through the lens of charity she offers us. What I most admired in her work was the respect shown for Chretien's text, read with careful, even loving attention. (I wish that her own text were more carefully printed to avoid distracting typos—accents, misspellings, missingwords.) Future readings of Perceval's character will no doubt profit from Sargent-Baur's patient eye illuminating his uncertain progress. MATILDA TOMARYN BRUCKNER Boston College christopher Snyder, The World ofKingArthur. (Original Illustrations by Samuel Valentino.) New York: Thames & Hudson, 2000. Pp. 192. 262 illustrations, 64 in color, isbn: 0-500-05140—6. $29.95. On one level, The World ofKingArthur is the consummste Arthurisn coffee tsble book. But such s generic designation fails to account for the importance of this volume, or to recognize Professor Snyder's remarkable achievement in compiling it. Coverage is encyclopedic. The introduction asks an importsnt question, 'Who Was Arthur?'—snd then goes on to supply s sensible snswer: 'there was not one Arthur, but many'; the Arthur (or, in some cases, theArthurs) ofhistory, offolklore, of mythology, of literature, snd of srt (8). Subsequent sections discuss the Briton snd Romsn bsckgrounds to the legend ofArthur, the sge ofArthur itself(AD 400600 ), the chronicles ofthe Britons, the legends ofthe Britons, the return—or more properly returns—of Arthur under the Plsntsgenet, Tudor, snd Stusrt dynasties and during the Victorian era, the quest for Camelot, and the current age ofArthur in which the legend has become ubiquitous in multiple media including fiction, film and television, and music. Interleaved among these sections are various bits and bobs ofthe story ofArthur. The full text is then supplemented by a directory of Arthurisn organizations, a glosssry, a gszctteer, suggestions for further reading, a listing of internet resources, and s comprehensive index. On sny given page, readers will find a feast for the eyes, and for the mind. Pages 142-143 are typical. A discussion of the Pre-Rsphselites snd their tske on Arthur runs in columns down s third of esch psge. To the left or right of the text itself appear black and white reproductions of two costume designs for, and a poster in German snnouncing, the 1882 premiere ofWagner's Parsifal at Bayreuth, a black 164ARTHURIANA andwhite photograph ofMarkTwsin, snd full color reproductions oftwo paintings, William Holman Hunt's TheLady ofShallotand William Morris's Queen Guinevere. Equally characteristic is Professor Snyder's briefdiscussion ofArthurian film and television (169-171), which is notable for its inclusiveness and for its ability to summarize succinctly the long and complicated history ofcinemaArthuriana. Again the text itself is richly illustrated with full color stills from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Sword in the Stone, Camelot, snd the television mini-series Merlin, ss well ss with blsck snd white stills from Knights ofthe Round Table, Lancelot du Lac, snd Perceval le Gallois. Throughout the volume, the quality of the illustrations is uniformly first rate, and their generous use, slong with Professor Snyder's clesr prose, makes The World ofKingArthur an important addition to the libraries of specialists and generslists alike. In my own library, Professor Snyder's book shares a shelf with The New Arthurian Encyclopedia edited by NorrisJ. Lacy and the Lacy-Ashe-Msncoffrevised edition of TheArthurian Handbook. For anyone interested in the legends ofArthur, Professor Snyder's The World ofKing Arthur joins these two already established references to form a trinity of starting points for queries and a trinity of treasure troves ofuseful information to be consulted again and again. We are all in Professor Snyder's debt for his contribution of such...