King Arthur in British Literature, 1660-1815

Blaney, Amy Louise

Abstract

This thesis explores the literary afterlives of the Arthurian legend across the long eighteenth century by examining the ways in which reworkings of Arthur intervene in debates about historiography, gender, class, and national identity.
Commencing with the allegorical adaptations and politicisations of Arthurian settings that arose in the wake of the 1688 Revolution, this thesis examines several discrete modes of literary Arthurianism across the long eighteenth century and contends that, far from being indifferent to the medieval past, antiquarians, philosophers, scholars, and poets from across the long eighteenth century increasingly turned to history in search of both poetic inspiration and cultural validation.
As Britain formed around them, eighteenth-century writers adapted the character of Arthur to new aesthetic tastes and modified the Arthurian story to suit emergent modes of storytelling, reshaping the values of the Arthurian myth according to their own cultural and political concerns. The thesis explores the ways in which Arthur was increasingly embroiled in contested debates about nationhood and national identity whilst also tracing the evolution of the Arthurian legends into a wider Arthurian ‘mythos’ in which the overarching culture, settings, structures, symbols, and themes of the Arthurian world became as significant as the individual figures and narratives featured within them.

Citation

Blaney, A. L. King Arthur in British Literature, 1660-1815. (Thesis). Keele University. Retrieved from https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/956346

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 28, 2024
• Keywords: medievalism, eighteenth century, nationalism, cultural memory, temporality
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/956346
• Additional Information: Embargo on access until 23 September 2026 - The thesis is due for publication, or the author is actively seeking to publish this material.; Post embargo, digital copy of full text version available upon request from the Archives https://forms.office.com/e/sRWE7eQWgU - third party copyright content preventing thesis being published online.
• Award Date: 2024-10