Mystic Grail: The Challenge of the Arthurian Quest

by John Matthews

"The Grail...continues to exert a powerful fascination over everyone who studies it...John Mathews offers both a historical and a psychological depiction of the various ways in which people have found meaning in the Holy Grail."-- "The Celtic Connection. "John Matthews has a gift for telling a story that broadens the imagination and inspires the soul. Matthews...as a master historian and a skilled storyteller...beautifully illustrated with time-honored art..."-- "An Scathan

. 96 pages (all in color), 5 1/4 x 8 1/2.

Genres: Arthurian

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

John Matthews is an historian, folklorist and author. He has been a full time writer since 1980 and has produced over ninety books on the Arthurian Legends and Grail Studies, as well as short stories and a volume of poetry. He has devoted much of the past thirty years to the study of Arthurian Traditions and myth in general. His best known and most widely read works are ‘Pirates’ (Carlton/Atheneum), No 1 children’s book on the New York Times Review best-seller list for 22 weeks in 2006, ‘The Grail, Quest for Eternal Life’ (Thames & Hudson, 1981) ‘The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Wisdom’ (Element, 1994) and ‘The Winter Solstice’ (Quest Books, 1999) which won the Benjamin Franklin Award for that year. His book ‘Celtic Warrior Chiefs’ was a New York Public Library recommended title for young people.

Reviews

[Rhonda Wise]

Interesting but a little choppy in the middle. apparently there may be some missing paragraphs as pages 52, 53, and 54 do not line up with sentences and paragraphs that have no end or no start.

Other than that, it is fairly decent. It is a bit dry in many places, but the illustrations are gorgeous and the quotes fascinating. I am not 100% certain of the conclusions but I intend to do some research on the subject and see if I can scare up some of the references.

[Kara]

My copy had passages out of order, so heads up to everyone. Writing was dry but good info.

[Jessica]

Nothing wrong with it, but not my cup of tea. I thought the book would cover the development of the Arthurian legend as a sort of overview of the main versions, who wrote them, and how they differed. The Mystic Grail didn't quite do that in the way I had been hoping for - at least, not at the beginning, and I didn't read to the end.

It's an interesting little book, and one that I may well return to in the future. It just isn't quite what I'm looking for at the moment.