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Cherewatuk edits Arthurian legend book

By David Gonnerman '90
September 22, 2009

St. Olaf Professor of English Karen Cherewatuk has co-edited and contributed to The Arthurian Way of Death: The English Tradition, a new book that will be published in November.

"Our idea in putting together this collection was  to recognize that the power of the Arthurian myth derives in large measure from its tragic end and then to question how the motif of death has been handled by authors and artists who work in the English tradition," Cherewatuk says. "The essays begin with the trilingual culture of medieval Britain with its cross-fertilization of Latin, Norman French, and English versions of the legend, and move forward in time to the legend's movement across the Atlantic to American fiction and Hollywood film."

The book includes 13 essays, including Cherewatuk's "Dying in Uncle Arthur's Arms and at His Hands" that compares death scenes of Arthur's two nephews, Gawain and Mordred.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.