The first in this series of handbooks for Arthurian literature in medieval European traditions, The Arthur of the Welsh, appeared in 1991, and we have awaited this most recent volume ever since. Edited by Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan and Erich Poppe, Arthur in the Celtic Languages is the first-ever single-volume survey of the corpus of Arthurian materials from Celtic nations, bringing together chapters on Welsh, Irish, Scottish, Cornish, and Breton Arthuriana (regrettably, as the volume editors note, there are no known references to the Arthurian legend in either written or oral traditions in Manx.) Where The Arthur of the Welsh focused on the medieval tradition, Arthur in the Celtic Languages covers materials from the medieval through the present day, a welcome expansion for those Arthurian scholars equally or more interested in medievalism. This book, as rich and vibrant as the cultures it examines, offers readers a solid introduction to its subject while also gesturing toward the many ways its contents might galvanize further original research and lines of investigation. Each chapter is at once a deeply learned discussion of what is known and is an inspiring guide for imagining what else might be discovered, testifying to both its authors’ magisterial knowledge and its editors’ skill in harnessing that knowledge in service to the field.

The book is organized into three parts. Predictably, given the extant corpus of premodern Celtic Arthurian materials, part one, the chapters dealing with the Welsh tradition, constitutes over half of the volume's contents. These chapters revisit, revise, and extend the work conducted in the earlier Welsh volume, providing a badly needed update reflecting current field methodologies and preoccupations. Adding part one and part two, featuring the Breton and Cornish materials, the overall Brythonic discussion makes up twenty-one chapters and more than two-thirds of the book's pages, with part three, the Gaelic materials, making up three chapters and a little over fifty pages in total. This proportion is also to be expected, for, as Lloyd-Morgan and Poppe note in their introduction, “the oldest vernacular texts in which reference to Arthur is made are Welsh” (4), and “Arthurian traditions appear to have been more extensive and popular in the Brythonic than in the Gaelic-speaking world, and together the traditions of Wales, Cornwall and Brittany occupy an important position in relation to the development of Arthurian literature” (2). Also of note is the relationship of Arthur to these particular places in comparison to his place in other literary traditions; Lloyd-Morgan and Poppe point out that “it is important to realize that the Arthurian traditions in the Brythonic languages from the earliest sources to modern times reflect a strong awareness that Arthur is an indigenous figure, not an exotic import as he would be in all other languages” (2). While there are significant texts in the Irish and Scottish Gaelic traditions, as noted in the chapters by Poppe (“The Earliest Irish Material”), Aisling Byrne (“Irish Translations and Romance”), and Linda Gowans (“Scottish Gaelic Literature and Popular Traditions”), these productions are later than most of their Brythonic counterparts, and they demonstrate awareness that Arthur is not an indigenous figure for their audiences.

The editors are thankfully not concerned with ongoing (and futile) efforts to amass evidence of a historical Arthur, but rather focus the collection on the transmission and evolution of the Arthurian legend through the various cultures and historical periods represented, emphasizing its broad range of translations and adaptations, which are in turn examined through various lenses. Chapter by chapter, the book builds a case long understood by Arthurianists and too often overlooked by more discipline-specific scholars for the value of interdisciplinary approaches, including, among others, linguistic and manuscript studies, orality and performance studies, postcolonial and bibliographic critical approaches, and of course literary and onomastic studies. This editorial approach underscores the inherent and vibrant interdisciplinarity that renders Arthurian studies so attractive and inviting, wide-ranging, and encompassing.

Part one is divided into four sections. The first, “The Beginnings of Welsh Arthurian Tradition,” features short chapters by Nerys Ann Jones (“Arthurian References in Early Welsh Poetry”), John Bollard (“The Earliest Welsh Poems”), and Jenny Roland (“Trystan and Esyllt”). The second, “Native Welsh Arthurian Tales,” has essays by Simon Rodway on Culhwych ac Olwen and Catherine McKenna on Breuddwyd Rhonabwy; “Medieval Translations and Adaptations into Welsh,” features Katherine Himsworth on Brut y Brenhinedd; Lloyd-Morgan and Poppe's “The First Adaptations from French: History and Context of a Debate”; Regine Reck, “Owain or Iarlles y Ffynnawn”; Poppe again, on Ystoria Geraint fab Erbin; and Lloyd-Morgan on Historia Peredur ab Efrawg and Y Seint Greal. The fourth section, “Influences and Re-compositions,” has six chapters: “Arthur in Trioedd Ynys Prydain,” by Rebecca Shercliff; Barry Lewis's survey, “Arthurian references in Medieval Welsh Poetry, c. 1100–c. 1540”; Lloyd-Morgan's third solo-authored essay in the collection, “Later Hybrid Narrative Texts in Middle Welsh”; Elissa R. Henkin's “Folklore and Popular Tradition,” ranging from the medieval through the nineteenth century; Scott Lloyd's “Arthurian Place-Names of Wales”; and Lly^r Gwyn Lewis's “Arthurian Tradition in Modern Welsh Literature.”

Part two comprises a chapter both erudite and charming, “Cornwall and the Matter of Britain,” penned by Oliver J. Padel, and three chapters on Breton representations. The first of the three, “Arthur in Earlier Breton Traditions” by Hervé Le Bihan, examines medieval Breton Arthuriana. The other two address Arthurian medievalism: “Popular Traditions and the Work of Hersart de la Villemarqué,” by Fañch Postic and Hélène Bouget, and “The Arthurian Legend in Modern Breton Culture,” by Françoise le Saux.

The volume concludes with part three, “The Gaelic World,” followed by a bibliography featuring primary sources and digital resources alongside a judicious selection of secondary critical studies. The primary source list, including an up-to-date listing of texts and translations, will be of great value to both specialists and generalists. The secondary works cited will be helpful for students and those newer to the field, although scholars already working in Celtic Arthurian studies will likely have read most if not all of the included sources.

This volume will prove indispensable to all scholars working on Celtic Arthurian materials and essential to most scholars working within the medieval Arthurian traditions; it will be a welcome guidebook for students, generalists, and enthusiasts of Arthurian studies; and it should find appreciative audiences among those interested in medieval and modern Celtic literature and folklore, the Arthurian legend, the relationships between literature and oral performance, literature and place names, and literary translation and adaptation. It is an invaluable and exceptional scholarly achievement.